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THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 




^^^^^^fJ{ocMl 



IT IS NOT ALL OF SCOUTING TO SCOUT" 

Admitting modesty is a good Boy Scout virtue, who would deny a fellow 
in a fix like this the right to step a trifle high? 



THE 
BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

A GUIDEBOOK BASED UPON THE ANNUAL ENCAMPMENT 

OF A BOY SCOUT TROOP; THE SECOND OF A SERIES OF 

HANDY VOLUMES OF INFORMATION AND INSPIRATION 

By 

EDWARD CAVE 




Garden City New York 

DOUBLED AY, PAGE & COMPANY 

1914 






3<^ 



Copyright, ipi4, by 

DOUBLEDAY, PaGE & COMPANY 

J[ll rights reserved, including that of 

translation into foreign languages, 

including the Scandinavian 



MAY 121914 



/, 



^t 



'Cf,A374048 



TO MY MOTHER 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction xiii 

I. Camping Out 3 

Too much civilization — Liberty and living — Nature 
knows best — The spirit of the camp. 

II. Making Plans 9 

Seeding spare time — Inspiration and initiative — Good 
plans for good results — Getting in training. 

III. Camp Grounds " 14 

Scouting for camp-sites — Making the best of things — 
Change of scene — Room to swing around — The proper 
location — Desirable requisites. 

IV. Tents and Tenting 24 

Camps and companions — Which style of tent? — Army 
tents and sportsmen 's tents — Commissary, mess and 
latrine tents. 

V. Personal Equipment . 38 

A different mess-kit and a larger ditty-kit — The duffel- 
bag — The Western bed-roll. 

VI. The Troop's Camping Kit 50 

Canvas, furniture, and tools — Camp stoves — Tin- 
ware — Hospital equipment, 

VII. Off to Camp 65 

Final preparations — Buying the grub — The day of 
days — New scenes — The hike to camp — Looking things 
over. 

VIII. Making Camp 77 

Pitching the tents — Shorts, gym. shirts, stockings, 
and sneaks — Making the beds — Furnishing the mess-tent 
— Cafeteria serving — The Kangaroo Court. 

IX. Camp Discipline 89 

The Order of the Day — Days off — A clean camp every 
way — The flag-pole ceremony — Signal practice — The 
first swim and the first camp-fire — Rules of the camp. 

X. Cooking 106 

Grub duty — Changing cooks, and some unofficial cere- 
monies — The bill of fare — The cooking recipes — A 
storm and an eagle. 

vii 



viii CONTENTS — Continued 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XI. Camp Health 126 

The water supply — Disposal of waste — Flies and 
mosquitoes — Personal health. 
XII. Morning Scouting 139 

Educational hikes — Tower and bridge building — Co- 
operation and loyalty — "Inside" discipline — Spectacular 
stunts — The big hike. 

XIII. Afternoon Fun 153 

Camp athletics — Scouting competitions — Aquatics — 
The coming of the Comedy King — A ''rebellion." 

XIV. Homeward Bound 172 

Packing up — The "wrecking" — Striking the tents — 
The final clean-up — The last retreat — Another flag-pole 
race — Back to "civilization" — Home, sweet home! 
XV. After Thoughts 184 

The folly of guard duty — Rainy-day hints — Commis- 
sary tent suggestions — More about sanitation and camp 
health — Fires and firewood — First-aid hints — Camp 
friendships. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

"It Is Not All of Scouting to Scout" Frontispiece 

Admitting modesty is a good Boy Scout virtue, who would deny 
a fellow in a fix like this the right to step a trifle high? page 

"You're on the Right Trail; Just Keep A-Goin'" .... 49 
Prospector, surveyors, and Boy Scouts meet on the trail. 

Kangaroo Court Convenes 76 

The Cluck-Cluck Clan of a Florida troop initiate a new member 
of the troop, his particular " o5ence" being the wearing of pajamas. 

The Coming of the Comedy King 152 

He is received and conducted to his throne by the Cluck-Cluck 
Clan, who have charge of the gala day at the annual encampment. 



IX 



ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT 

PAGE 

Threshing It Out lo 

"Sun-Dance" Plan for a Boy Scout Camp 15 

The Kind of Camp-Site We Dream About ....... 17 

When a Camp-Site Is Not a Camp-Site 20 

The Military Plan of Laying Out a Boy Scout Camp . . 22 

Military Tents: Wall, Sibley, and Pyramidal Patterns . . 27 

Sportsmen's Tents 28 

Pyramid Tent and an Elaboration of It 2q 

A Way to Get More Headroom in a Wedge Tent .... 39 

Shelter, or "Dog" Tent 30 

Design of an Indian Tepee 31 

How THE Tepee Looks When Erected 32 

"X-Rays" View Showing How the Draft-Curtain Is Used . 32 

A Modern House Tent 33 

A Good Arrangement for a Permanent Camp 34 

Another Way 34 

So-Called Compartment Tent, with Fly 35 

How TO Make a Latrine Tent 36 

The Old-Style Army Haversack Altered to Serve as a Pack- 
Sack 39 

How TO Make the Ditty-Kit 40 

Commercial Duffel Bag 41 

Good Type of Folding Camp Cot 42 

The Camp Tick 43 

How TO Make a Canvas Roll-Up 46 

Some Axes 54 

The Folding Camp Stove 56 

The Sectional Stove Top in Use 57 

Cross-Section View of the Sectional Stove Top .... 58 

The Troop Cooking Kit 58 

The Warming Pan, and a Battery of Pots 59 

A Folding Baker and Its Case 62 



xii ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT — Continued 

PAGE 

Canvas Water Bottle 63 

"That Reminds Me" 71 

A Good Way to Make a Stretcher Cot 82 

Inelegant, but Better Than the Ground 83 

Arrangement of Tables Under the Big Fly That Serves for the 

Mess-Tent 84 

Reveille Roll Call 90 

A Camp Ice-Box 108 

Cross-Section View of a Camper's "Cellar" 109 

How Uncle Sam's Soldiers Build a Garbage Incinerator . iii 

How TO Make a Camp Filter 128 

The Makeshift Camp Larder 133 

Recall 139 

Detail of Lashing 143. 

The First Two of the Four Sides of the Tower . ... 143 

The Port Chester Signalling Tower Becomes a Diving Tower . 144 

Putting "The Last Ounce" in It 154 

The "Tearful Trek" 172 

A Wash-Boiler Oven 185 

A Sign-Board Scaling Wall 187 

The Water-Carrier's Yoke 189 



INTRODUCTION 

SOME fifteen years ago we began to discover in our 
big cities that we were suffering from too much 
civilization, too much indoor Hfe. A ''back to the 
country" movement sprang up, and has since grown to tre- 
mendous proportions. This has been augmented in many 
ways that need not be enumerated; it is sufficient to say 
that last of all came the Boy Scout movement and did for 
the boys of the country what the men were doing for them- 
selves — and more. This being a boy's book, we will cut 
across lots and proceed to make camp on that spot in the 
whole proposition in which every boy is most interested. 

The boys of the country — and of the world, for that 
matter — did not need to have a movement come along to 
whet their interest in camping out. All they wanted was a 
chance. The truth is, the average boy has not Hved long 
enough to have suffered any particular warp of interest in 
the things that camping out stands for. To him too much 
civiHzation has only assumed the proportions of a tether, 
whereas to the average man it has become a harness. The 
boy is like the young, unbroken colt, with all its love of free- 
dom. And he has to be ''broken" to the restraints of our 
ultra-civiHzation, just as the colt has to be broken to har- 
ness. Therefore, it is not necessary in this book to make 
the usual appeal found in most handbooks on camping, 
urging the reader to get out and have some of the life that is 
good for him. We know he is interested — in fact, much of 
the time itching to "put in his oar" or grab a rope and show 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

us he knows what to do with it in a case such as we may be 
discussing. For his good, however, we will attach to him 
something in the nature of the head-stall or halter that 
goes on the colt, as above mentioned, so we can catch 
him when it seems necessary to impress him with the fact 
that he is not wholly free to follow his own incHnations. 
This tether we will call Caution, its chief purpose being to 
keep him out of difficulties. 

It perhaps is unfortunate that the title of this book is 
not more explanatory of the exact nature of the contents; 
for it is not devoted to the entire subject of camping, as 
some may suppose. If this is so, the same, in a measure, 
may be said of the previous volume, "The Boy Scout's 
Hike Book," which, however, will be found to contain 
more than its title may imply. Yet I doubt if a more 
practical division of the material in the two books could be 
made. Therefore, I must trust to the judgment of the 
reader, which, I beHeve, will in most cases tell him that 
"The Boy Scout's Hike Book" must necessarily contain 
chapters on camping out on hikes, and the subject thus 
having been covered, there is nothing left but to devote 
this volume entirely to the annual encampment. Inasmuch 
as the latter is the event of the year, it will be self-evident to 
every boy that nothing less than a complete book could do 
it justice. As to whether this book is complete and does 
do . the subject justice — why, that is quite a different 
matter! I'll have to leave it to Jim. 

Mamaroneck, N. Y. Edward Cave. 

February i8, 1914. 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 




CHAPTER I 

CAMPING OUT 

CAMPING out represents the height of liberty. One 
might even get a pretty fair rhetorical effect by 
likening the camp-fire to the torch which the figure 
of Liberty holds on high. And it is the best kind of liberty 
for a boy. Now, with the statement as to the tether, in the 
Introduction, fresh in mind, you no doubt think I am going 
to tie a dreary old bow-knot of ''best for you" on your ''hal- 
ter of Caution." Don't worry! My "halter" concerns 
your healthy all-around development. 

Perhaps you have thought of camping out and outdoor 
life as affecting only your physical self, insofar as it does you 
good. You may have thought it helps you to grow bigger 
and stronger, and that is about all, except for the practical 
things you learn and the fun you have. But it is doubtful 
if you ever have considered camp life as a stepping-stone to 
greatness in the world of men. And so I am going to repeat 
for you, with a few minor changes, an editorial of mine 
about liberty and living and play that pays. 



Looking Ahead. — When a boy begins to read and learn 
about all the great achievements that have been accom- 
plished by men who in their own time were themselves ordi- 

3 



4 TEE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

nary boys, in ordinary circumstances, he quite naturally 
does a good deal of wondering concerning what the future 
holds in store for him. And he perhaps thinks of the knowl- 
edge he must acquire, the brain discipline he must un- 
dergo, before he can even reach the first stepping-stone to 
greatness. In brief, it all seems to be a battle for the brain. 

It is not a bad thing, therefore, for a boy to learn as early 
and as thoroughly as possible that without the aid of muscle 
the finest brain would be about as useful as that of a wooden 
Indian. 

The saying that ''Muscle maketh the man" was never 
more true than it is to-day. For, although one does not 
have to be a Hercules these days to become great, we are 
living in such a strenuous age that we require a lot of energy. 
And muscle provides all our energy; without it we would be 
worse off than the jelly-fish, which every boy knows is the 
limit of spinelessness. Without muscle all our wonder- 
workers would be of less use to the world than so many 
pumpkins. They could not communicate the smallest 
thoughts to us, and, for that matter, could not even exist; 
for that wonderful mainspring of the human body, the 
heart, is all muscle. 

The Best Exercise. — To the average person the word 
"play" suggests amusement. But play has a deeper mean- 
ing and a richer purpose than a mere pastime. It is the 
means by which the senses and the muscles are the most 
harmoniously and healthfully developed. And as 70 per 
cent, of the brain is devoted to, consequently built up by, 
the exercise of the senses and the control of the muscles, it is 
plain as daylight that there can be no other possible result 
than that "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." 



CAMPING OUT 5 

Think a minute and it is easy to understand why play — 
and by that I mean the romping kind — has such a good 
effect upon the senses and the muscles. "Start something" 
and you csinfeel it. It is like a strong stimulant and keys 
you up to concert pitch, as it were. You call it a feeling 
of fun, and undoubtedly would say it comes from your 
thoughts. But all the while this exultation that makes 
your blood bound and your eyes shine comes from the 
senses and the muscles being thrown into the high gear by 
play. That is all there is to it. 

Every thoughtful boy will realize that there is a pretty 
good reason for everything in nature. Then, what about 
the play indulged in by the young of both wild and domes- 
tic animals? Do young foxes, young bears, kittens, and 
colts romp and play as the result of their thoughts ? How 
about the young pigs, the calves, the lambs, the fawns of the 
wild deer that a few lucky woodsmen have seen at their 
sprightly gambols, and even the wolf -pups, whose grim par- 
ents are about as playful as a rattlesnake? If perhaps you 
are not sure that these young animals are incapable of think- 
ing, why do they cease to play when they become grown? 
If their play is the result of a purely mental desire for amuse- 
ment, why in the world do they lose all desire for such 
amusement when they mature? Finally, isn't it pretty apt 
to be the case that the growing senses and muscles of these 
animals demand exercise that is best supplied by play? 

Nature Knows Best. — It is good to do a Httle thinking 
about fundamentals once in a while. Otherwise, we are 
apt to fall into the habit of trying to improve on nature, 
having made so many wonderful improvements along other 
lines. This matter of preparing one's self as a boy for 



6 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

achieving success as a man oJffers a good case in point. On 
the face of it, from a boy's point of view playing rough- 
house, for example, hasn't about it anything to commend it 
as preparation for a business career. The average parent's 
opinion added to this, to say nothing of that of the school- 
teacher, would seem to just about settle it. But it is, 
nevertheless, a big, bold fact that it has — a whole lot to 
commend it, too. And there are behind this fact to back it 
up, nature, which is not apt to go wrong, and in this instance 
expressed by the normal instinct of the boy to maul some- 
body or something, and the discoveries of scientific investi- 
gation. Facts against opinions. Which do you choose? 

You will take facts, of course. But it is perhaps only fair 
to consider the cause for those opinions. Very simple. 
Grown people, Uke grown animals, have ceased to develop 
their senses and muscle, and no -longer feel the play impulse 
rioting in them. And, without thinking, they often oppose 
it in a boy or a girl if it happens to disturb the even tenor 
of their way. They are not to be blamed for that, either. 
It is simply human nature, just as it is dog nature for an old 
dog to lose his patience and rebuke the playful puppy for 
tormenting him. 

A Solid Foundation. — Let it be remembered that in 
building up your senses and your muscle by the right kind 
of play — as they unquestionably are best built up — you 
are simultaneously building up seven tenths of your brain. 
Consider this, and ask yourself if it is not reasonable to 
expect that the remaining three tenths will be the better for 
it. When you tackle the serious affairs of life you will have 
to depend upon your senses and your muscle to carry out 
the dictates of your brain, and therefore to succeed will need 



CAMPING OUT 7 

to be a pretty evenly balanced man. If you have much 
ambition, and competition keeps up at the present rate, 
even, you have use for all the outdoor play you can get; not 
only as a boy, but all your life. Outdoor play because 
exercise in the outdoor air and sunshine is better for your 
health, and because you have more Hberty outdoors than 
indoors. 

Best of all is camp life, for the reason that in camp you 
get the maximum of outdoor play, Hve most healthfully, 
have the least restraint, and — do not annoy your elders. 
So no matter what others may say to you about wasting 
your time in such an ''unciviKzed" pursuit, feed the fires 
of your ambition with all the camping out you can get. It 
will do much to furnish you with the energy and reserve 
power you must have to get up in the world. Beside, it is 
mighty good fun. 

But do not forget your tether of Caution; let it be your 
guide to steer you clear of the several ways by which you 
may be deprived of your precious Hberty. Just think of what 
happens to the colt that tries to gallop through a barbed- wire 
fence ! You cannot afford to cultivate habits in camp that 
may handicap you elsewhere, hence your Hberty is fenced 
off here and there. Not being a silly colt, you can under- 
stand the value those fences are to you — the fences of 
discipline which encircle and intersect every properly con- 
ducted boys' camp. 



The Spirit of the Camp. — Camp life, especially at a per- 
manent camp, such as we are discussing in this book, is by 
no means entirely dependent upon location, equipment, and 



8 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

management for its success, although these things constitute 
the foundation of whatever success there is. The spirit of 
the camp is the big outstanding thing that counts. 

I dare say most boys who take up this book will expect to 
find it devoted entirely to tents and how to pitch them, sani- 
tation, cooking, and in general the work of the camp. But 
think a minute. Is that all there is to camping? And now, 
to go a step further, if we must plan the work carefully, 
make all preparations — what about the rest? Is it logical 
to expect that the real pleasures of the camp will just nat- 
urally crop up overnight like mushrooms? Hardly. And 
in preparing for fun, and lots of it, is it not wise to at the 
same time provide that the location of the camp, the equip- 
ment, the arrangement of the work, the camp discipline, and 
regular scouting activities will dovetail nicely with this 
program of fun? It certainly is. 

Now that you have my point of view, I think you will 
readily understand that the purpose of this book is broader 
than that of other books on the subject of camping; in short, 
that it aims to tell you much more than merely ''how to 
camp out." 



CHAPTER II 



MAKING PLANS 



EVERYBODY admires the resourcefulness of the 
newspapers' special correspondents, who are ready 
at an hour's notice to start on a trip to the other 
side of the world. They seem to be veritable paragons of 
preparedness. Yet there are, in reality, a great many men 
in other callings — detectives, attorneys, financial agents, 
expert accountants, engineers, and the like — who are just 
as ready, but of whom we seldom hear in this connection. 
Furthermore, perhaps not a single one of the lot can truth- 
fully be said to be always ready. They go promptly because 
they are compelled to. And in most cases a small army 
of secretaries, clerks, and messengers bear the brunt of get- 
ting them away provided with everything they need — 
instructions, credentials, railway and steamer tickets, letters 
of credit, ready cash, and all the other necessaries. They 
are in reality catapaulted on their way by a powerful or- 
ganization, and if left to their own resources would require 
days to do what is accomplished for them in that short 
hour's time. So you may easily see it would be a mistake 
to try to emulate them, even in a small way, as a means to 
testing your resourcefulness. 

Be Prepared. — We all have had the experience of not 
being ready when the time came to start on a hike. We 

9 



lo 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



had to get some matches, or find some mislaid part of our 
equipment, or do some tardy errand. And it was not that 
we had not had time to get ready, but that we had put 
things off. There is an old saying that '' procrastination is 
the thief of time." Nobody knows it better than the Scout 
who finds himself late at the rendezvous, with perhaps only 
a note pinned on a tree telKng him so to greet him. 

In the years I have devoted to sporting journalism I have 
found it to be an unvarying rule that the men who make the 




Threshing It Out 

most successful vacation trips are those who lay their plans 
months in advance. And I want to urge every Scout to 
take this tip. In fact, the purpose of this book is chiefly to 
tell how to he ready to get the full benefit of the time that is 
to be spent in camp. 

Another very important consideration to be taken into 
account is the fun you get out of making preparations. 
There is a saying among campers that "anticipation is half 
the pleasure of reahzation." It is. There was a time when, in 
my ignorance, I had a good deal of fine contempt for the 



MAKING PLANS ii 

fellows who seemed to make such a fuss about getting ready 
for a little vacation. I imagined I was very superior in my 
stand that I ^'crossed my bridges when I came to them" 
until I discovered that often those same bridges were in no 
condition for crossing when at last I arrived, and, further- 
more, that I had been missing a great deal of the joy of an- 
ticipation. I had been mixing my bridges. 

Seeding Spare Time. — Big things grow out of planning 
far ahead. Ways and means are discovered for. turning 
what might ordinarily be a commonplace vacation into an 
event of a lifetime. Inspirations grow best if the seed is 
planted early in the season. Initiative, that priceless 
quality which is so much in demand in all walks of Hfe, and 
upon which so many successes hinge, is not something that 
happens along at the eleventh hour. It is found in the 
man who started in as a boy to make his plans well in ad- 
vance, to be well prepared to take the initiative when the 
time came. It stands to reason that there can be no other 
explanation; for the man who wins our admiration by tak- 
ing the initiative in a big undertaking, who steps in and 
starts things going when everybody else holds back, must 
be prepared. 

Likewise, it may as readily be understood that the plans 
started, no matter how long in advance, are but little better 
than no plans at all unless they are carried to maturity. 
They must be built up until they are complete. A good 
example of this befell a certain troop of Scouts at their first 
annual encampment. They had decided that, among other 
things, they would have a gala day. Now a gala day re- 
quires a deal of preparation, being nothing less than an 
outdoor show. But when at last the time for their show 



12 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

came, there were only four members of the troop who did 
not insist upon playing the r61e of an onlooker. And as 
if that were not bad enough, these four had confined 
almost all their preparation to their costumes. One of 
the four, who turned out to be the comedian of the troop, 
sized up the situation to a nicety when, mounting a stump, 
he announced: ''The first ten numbers of the program will 
be omitted, on account of there being so many Scouts in 
the audience, and the show will start with a postponement, 
for which great preparations have been made." 

Anticipation. — The habit of being ready is, as every 
Scout knows, a leading Scout virtue. In nothing will it pay 
a better profit of satisfaction than in connection with camp- 
ing. Then think of the fun! In my own case I positively 
beUeve I have derived as much pleasure out of making 
tents as I ever have found in the actual use of them. Re- 
member that you see only the bright side, in anticipation; it 
never rains, the canoe never upsets and ruins half your 
grub, you do not raise any bHsters, and flies and mosqui- 
toes do not pester. You conjure up nothing but a grand, 
good time. Fun? You just bet it is! 

So while you are so happily dreaming of those brave days 
to come — just take hold and make sure that you will collect 
compound interest. 

The first thing to do is to provide yourself with a mem- 
orandum book reserved especially for jotting down ideas 
you get, things you want to attend to, and bits of informa- 
tion you pick up, with reference to the coming encampment. 
Whether or not it is to be your first experience, you will find 
this memorandum book invaluable. 

The Other Fellow. — Next, make up your mind that 



MAKING PLANS 13 

you are not going to camp merely for your own pleasure and 
benefit, but intend to go out of your way to make the camp 
a big success, and to help as many other fellows enjoy it as 
you possibly can. No matter what others may or may not 
do, pledge yourself to this. Then prepare yourself to carry 
it out. And if you don't have the time of your life I miss 
my guess. 

As for your actual preparations, you will find many of 
them discussed in detail in other chapters. Others, you of 
course have well in hand, imless you happen to be a brand- 
new Tenderfoot. Most scouting activities constitute prep- 
aration for a good time in camp, and if you have the 
opportunity for getting plenty of field work, you may go to 
camp a seasoned camper, with experience in nearly all the 
camp activities. On the other hand, many troops are 
compelled, for one reason and another, to put off much of 
their camp and field work until the annual encampment. 

Big Times Coming ! — Hikes and overnight camps, as 
discussed in my "Boy Scout's Hike Book," are good prep- 
aration. I want to remark here, however, that the Scout's 
equipment for the annual encampment is in several partic- 
ulars different from that which he carries on his hikes, and the 
activities of the permanent camp much more elaborate than 
those of any week-end camp. Just wait till we get to camp ! 

Some lucky Scouts are able to have a permanent camp, 
perhaps in the backyard at home, where they " sleep out" all 
summer long and cook some or all of their meals. A number 
of the Scouts in my troop camp in this way for as much as 
five months of the year. And of course such a permanent 
camp makes the very best kind of laboratory in which to 
get ready for a '^big time" when the troop goes to camp. 



CHAPTER III 

CAMP GROUNDS 

IT IS a far cry, as the old saying goes, from the Sun-Dance 
of the Sioux Indians to the summer encampment of the 
Boy Scouts. In time alone it is more than thirty years 
now, since these Sun Worshippers of the West held their 
last great ceremonial rite on famous old Red Cloud's 
Agency in southern Dakota. What Kttle I know of it I 
gained when on a visit to my friend Joseph Mills Hanson, 
the author, and his father, Maj. J. R. Hanson, who was an 
Indian agent in Dakota in those sometimes stirring days, at 
their home near Yankton. It seemed to me that the Sioux 
had the right plan of laying out a camping ground for a big 
celebration. And inasmuch as the Boy Scouts have a simi- 
lar idea in connection with their conferences — that of 
forming a circle — I have adapted some of the features of 
the old Sun-Dance encampments to the Boy Scouts' sum- 
mer camp. 

Sun Dance Ceremonies. — For their Sun Dance the Sioux 
always required a very large camp ground. Think of thou- 
sands of tepees, all pitched side by side in one great circle ! 
There would be maybe ten or twelve thousand Sioux, and 
goodness knows how many guests — Pawnees, Cheyennes, 
Crees, Omahas, Nez Perces, Mandans, Blackfeet, and I 
don't know how many others — all mounted, and all decked 

14 



CAMP GROUNDS 15 

out in their finest and best of gala day attire; by long odds 
the most spectacular and dazzlingly colourful gathering 
ever possible on this continent. Just think of going to a 
camp Uke that ! You cannot ever hope to see such a spec- 
tacle, you Scouts, nor even to ever have so large a camp. 

To descend from Sioux and Sun-Dances to Scouts and 
summer camps, I want to urge the readers of this book to 
not underestimate the value of the suggestions it contains 






B C 



E F Q 



^ 



"Sun-Dance" Plan for a Boy Scout Camp 

A, Headquarters; B, Flag-pole; C, Camp-fire; D, Mess-tent; E, Serving benches 

covered by a fly; F, Cooking fire; G, Commissary tent 

for pitching the summer camp in *' Sun-Dance," or what 
should properly be Boy-Scout, fashion, and carrying out the 
various ceremonies adapted from ones used by the Sioux in 
connection with their Sun-Dance. And lest it may seem 
that I have wandered far from the subject of this chapter, 
I will say that before you select your camp grounds you 
should have a fixed idea of how you want your camp laid 
out. I think I have made it clear that, if possible, it should 



i6 THE BOTS CAMP BOOK 

be in the form of a circle. The more tents, of course, 
means the bigger the circle. And that, in the case of a 
large encampment, requires a big camp ground. By every 
rule, it should be entirely out in the open. 

Scouting for Camp-Sites. — This is always good fun, and 
excellent practice. One can profitably do much more of it 
than is necessary for the locating of one's camps, if one has 
the time, on any kind of a camping trip, and in the end find 
one's self in the superior class of the woodsmen, able to tell 
any one where to find the best camping places. 

As a matter of fact, a good woodsman, and by that I do 
not mean a mere woodchopper, but a woodcraftsman, is 
always appraising the camping places he sees as he goes his 
way through the wilds. It becomes a habit with him, 
founded upon early study of what really constitutes a good 
camp-site. His camp-sites, however, are very different 
from these with which we have to deal in this book, being 
similar to those used on camp hikes, as described in my 
''Boy Scout's Hike Book." Here we have the much more 
formidable task of finding the best camp-site for the troop's 
annual encampment. Quite a different matter, isn't it, 
when you think it over? 

Old Camping Grounds. — In many cases there is a logical 
place, a recreation ground of long standing that is unques- 
tionably the best adapted for the purposes of the troop. 
How it stirs us just to think of those places, too ! But alas ! 
far too many are known to us older campers only in mem- 
ory. Talk of conservation ! I never see or hear the word 
but I think of the picnic groves and the camping grounds 
that are so rapidly passing out of existence, for one reason 
and another. Then, on the other hand, there are so many 



CAMP GROUNDS 17 

more people camping nowadays than formerly. So troops 
of Boy Scouts often find it by no means easy to get a first- 
rate location for their annual camp. Beside, having found 
one, it does not necessarily follow that the troop will wish 
to return there year after year; everybody likes a change of 
scene. 

Presuming that the hunt is on, as it should be months 
before the time for going to camp comes around, it will be 




The Kind of Camp-Site We Dream About 
Everybody off on a Hike 

decided by common consent that the Scouts do not want to 
camp too near to home. They all want the change of scene 
above mentioned, and need it, too. A majority of parents, 
however, are apt to advise some nearby place, and so it is 
well to have a full report concerning the various sites, and 



i8 TEE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

make sure that the value of change of scene is taken into 
account. As this is a boy's book I will not dilate on this 
subject. But I urge the reader to vote for all the change 
he can get. 

Change of Scene. — The troop of which I am Scout 
Master is located in a "salt water" town, and all but one or 
two of the forty-eight Scouts who at present are members 
can swim, most of them very well indeed. A majority of 
them go swimming at least several times a week all summer 
long. Some literally would rather swim than eat; and of 
course none would think of swimming in fresh water so long 
as he could get to '' the briny." Yet when it comes to selec- 
ting a place for the annual encampment all want to go to 
the hills. Swimming they must have, of course, but there 
is no longer any objection to fresh water. Last year we 
went forty miles away, and next summer we doubtless will 
go farther, in search of still higher hills. This, mind you, 
due to nothing at all but a common impulse. 

And less than a mile from where this is written, in a big 
field we sometimes cross on our half -day hikes, but where we 
could not be hired to hold our encampment, a Brooklyn 
troop last summer pitched their camp and had, apparently, 
the time of their lives. They were over twenty miles from 
home, and, except that they had neither swimming nor 
boating, they could not have found a much better place to 
camp. 

The roving instinct, when given rein, leads away from 
famihar scenes. Inasmuch as it is both a normal and a 
healthy impulse, why not follow it? Why not hunt some 
altogether new, strange, and perhaps, in some measure, won- 
derful place? 



CAMP GROUNDS 19 

Big brothers are a fruitful source of information, but once 
a prospective camp-site is seriously considered, a delegation 
from the troop should, if possible, visit it and look the ground 
over. There are quite a number of very important requi- 
sites, chief of which, perhaps, is the water supply. Then 
comes the question of transportation there and back, the 
lay of the land, natural facilities for recreation, and prox- 
imity of houses, other camps, or undesirable attractions. 
Local conditions naturally must govern the selection, and it 
would be futile for me to attempt to describe what should 
constitute a proper location. I can, however, give some 
helpful suggestions as to what makes up a desirable site 
for the camp. But before I come to that, let me say a few 
words about what I call the "range." 

Room to Swing Around. — First off, you want plenty of 
room. Really, most grown people have no adequate idea 
of how much room a healthy boy actually needs. Twenty 
square miles would not be asking for too much, in sober fact, 
for a range for the average Boy Scout troop's summer en- 
campment. A group of outdoor boys, such as Scouts, are, 
to my notion, very much like a string of saddle and pack- 
horses in the mountains. When travelHng with a pack 
train you always must see to it that there is good grazing 
for the horses where you camp. Otherwise, you must hob- 
ble your horses and fence the trail, and go to no end of 
trouble, and then, after all, you may have to hike miles to 
find them the next morning. They will go in search of 
feed, or maybe take the trail for home. You can't blame 
them, either. Nor can you blame a bunch of boys for 
hiking far and wide in search of something to see, something 
to do, if they are camped in some dull corner. 



20 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



Get into the hills, if hills there are any. Get out in open 
country where there is room to swing around. There is 
far too much repression and restraint in all our lives. We 
men are cooped up, tied down, our wings clipped, and our 
legs hobbled for so many dreary months that we perhaps 
are backward about cutting loose and travelling when we 
get the chance. As Scout Masters we may forget that the 
boys under us are less used to fetters, more keen to be up 




When a Camp-Site Is Not a Camp-Site 
Perhaps ideal for a sportsman or two, but no place for a pennanent camp for a 
troop of Boy Scouts. It pays to investigate even the recommendations of experienced 
sportsmen; otherwise your vacation may be spoiled. 

and away. So to the Scout a-hunting a camping place, I 
say, locate on a good, big range. 

Camp High. — The camp-site should, if possible, be 
high. Likewise dry. A great many camping grounds are 
neither. But, because some other fellows camp in a damp, 
dark hole, in spite of mildew, damp blankets, and mosqui- 
toes, it does not necessarily follow that you must. The 
deep-shaded grove down by the lake or river shore may look 
attractive but if there is a good, big open knoll with shade 
close by, that is the place for a Boy Scouts' camp. Get out 
in the good sunshine, up where the breeze can get at you, 



CAMP GROUNDS 21 

and where the water will drain off when it rains. A little 
sunburn will not hurt you. 

You want, for a troop encampment, an acre of open 
ground at least, and as much more as you can get. There 
should be not only ample room for having the camp well 
spread out, but for an athletic field as well. The water 
supply should be not too far from where the cook-tent will 
be, of course; but you should not sacrifice a good location 
for the camp to save a little labour carrying water. In the 
case of a spring, it will no doubt be at the foot of the hill, 
below the camp, and among the trees. The more trees 
down there the better, for the combination of a cold spring 
and deep shade eliminates the ice problem. 

Poles and Fuel. — SapHngs for tent poles (if needed), for 
building cots, and other furniture, will be in large demand, 
unless the troop is unusually well equipped and financed. 
They should be found comparatively near at hand, and 
of course firewood in quantities as well. Hay or straw 
if conveniently available may be very acceptable for 
stuffing ticks. Lumber for tables and benches, for the 
cook- tent and the mess- tent, is necessary, but will not 
be required for floors for the sleeping tents, although 
desirable. Proximity of an orchard or a melon patch is — 
unfortunate ! 

Having found a satisfactory camp-site, and made what- 
ever arrangements may be necessary to secure its use, when 
the time for the encampment draws near some prepara- 
tory cleaning up may be required, and, if possible, should be 
done beforehand, and the prospective camp laid out with 
stakes properly marked, so when at last the troop arrives 
there will be no delay or confusion about pitching camp. A 



22 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



pioneer detail should be sent ahead to attend to this — with 
instructions not to go fishing. 

Most Boy Scout camps, I beheve, are laid out and con- 
ducted somewhat as a mihtary camp is. I think the mih- 
tary plan of having a troop street, with a row of tents facing 
it on each side, the cook and mess tents at the foot of it, and 
the headquarters tents at the head, as shown in the accom- 
panying diagram, is, next to the circle, the most satis- 
factory. I realize, of course, that in some cases the kind of 



B 



Q 



iXl y^ mim Uza^ 



The Military Plan of Laying Out a Boy Scout Camp 



tents used and the lay of the land must demand a different 
arrangement than either. 

A Check List. — To sum up, desirable requisites for a 
camp ground are as follows : 

High location, open, fairly level, on sandy sub-soil, facing 
lake or stream, and having shade trees close by on at least 
one side, best if on two sides. Good drainage. 

Good drinking water preferably not more than loo yards 
away. 

Away from ''civilization," especially a summer resort. I 
advise going four or five miles from the nearest town, even 
if this does mean you are handicapped in getting provisions 



CAMP GROUNDS 23 

and mail. Locate well away from the road. Visitors are 
not desirable. 

Favourable swimming place. Make sure of this. 

At least one safe boat, if boating is feasible. 

Absence of mosquitoes, black-flies, and rattlesnakes. In 
a rattlesnake country, avoid a rocky location. Mosquitoes 
come from swamps. Black-flies and midges are worst in 
low, woodsy places. 

Plenty of wood, preferably standing dead trees, if in a 
section where timber is valuable. The tops left by wood- 
choppers often furnish a good supply. Better perhaps to 
buy cordwood than destroy young timber. If in a section 
where there are chestnuts, and the bhght has come, use 
the dead chestnut trees. 

Far enough from home to provide a complete change of 
scene. Remember this. In fact, if you are sent scouting 
for a camp-site, do not commence to look for one until you 
are sure no visitor from your home town, except some 
venturesome fellow with a high-power automobile, will ever 
come that far. And you will be doing every fellow in your 
troop a kindness. 



CHAPTER IV 

TENTS AND TENTING 

THE big feature of a camp is not, as one might expect, 
bound up in its equipment and location . As I have 
said before, it is the spirit of the camp that counts. 
If this is right, the tents must be poor indeed, the rations 
short, the location abominable, and the weather worse, to 
put a damper on the outing. Happily, the right camping 
spirit is more sure to be found in a Boy Scout camp than 
anywhere else. 

Every Boy Scout, and every other boy, too, who has 
*'been there," knows that the summer camp provides the 
finest times of the year. I believe also that the Scout offi- 
cials and other men who are identified with boys' camps do 
not find so much genuine pleasure in any other camping. 
At any rate, in my own experience, and I have camped 
under all sorts of conditions, and in all kinds of places, I 
have had the most fun camping with boys. 

Two Kinds of Camps. — Three weeks after my troop of 
Scouts broke camp last summer, I went to the Cana- 
dian Rockies on a big game hunt, and although I never 
so much enjoyed a hunting trip, I had a dull time 
in camp compared to that I had in camp with my 
Scouts. I had a guide and a cook who were excellent 
companions, we were cozy and comfortable in our Indian 

24 



TENTS AND TENTING 25 

tepee, the weather could not have been better, and success 
attended my hunting. But how I did miss those Scouts 
of mine! 

Sitting one night in front of the tepee, where we were 
camped a couple of thousand feet above the Athabaska, be- 
side the Shovel Pass trail, I could see old Mount Geikie, one 
of the highest mountains in the Canadian Rockies, shoul- 
dering his white bulk up into the clear moonlight to an ele- 
vation of 11,016 feet, and seemingly but five miles across 
the valley, although, in reaHty, perhaps three times that dis- 
tance away. The wind roared around our mountain, and 
somewhere in the jackpines a coyote yapped his disdain of 
our Airedales. From down the trail came the faint jangle 
of the bell on one of the packhorses. Behind me the fire 
flickered low in the tepee, and I could hear the guides talk- 
ing soberly as they made down their beds. In the morning 
we were to pull out for town, and in another day those won- 
derful mountains and their delightful solitude would be left 
far behind me. My two good friends, the guides, I perhaps 
would never see again. Yet I found myself thinking of our 
Scout camp away back East and how, a few weeks before, I 
had sat out in front of my tent after taps the last night, just 
as I now sat outside our tepee at bedtime, and how I had 
then, as now, regretted that on the morrow I must pack up 
and go home. 

Camp Companions. — And now, as I write this, I wonder 
which camp will linger longest in my memory — the lone, 
smoke-tinted tepee on the mountain in northern Alberta, 
or the white wall tents of the Scouts in the old Van Deu- 
sen pasture, in southern New York State. Somehow, I 
think it will be the latter. For the "tides of life" eddied and 



26 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

swirled around those same white wall tents in a way not 
easily to be forgotten. 

I am sure every boy who reads this will reahze right off 
that the actual character of the camps above mentioned 
had very little to do with what I thought about them. 
Tepee or wall tent, faraway mountain wilderness or near- 
home lakeside pasture, the difference did not count for 
much. The camp in the West, simply as a place of tem- 
porary abode, and not taking into account the life that went 
with it, was unquestionably the most attractive. But the 
life of the Boy Scout camp, on the other hand, outshone that 
with the guides — well, just thirty to two ! 

Which Style of Tent. — So at last we come, rather tar- 
dily, I confess, to the subject of tents. 

Your troop perhaps is already well outfitted. Again, 
maybe it is not. And at any rate, I do not expect that 
what I say about tents is going to affect the market for 
them. It is a good principle to use the camping equipment 
one has, even if it is not quite satisfactory, rather than 
indulge any tendency to extravagance. The time to buy 
a tent or tents is when they are actually needed. And then 
is the time to get the kind you have made up your mind is 
best suited to your purposes. As in many other things, it is 
generally best to wear out unsatisfactory equipment. I 
can wish you no better luck than that, whether or not your 
troop tents are the best kind, you have plenty of oppor- 
tunity to wear them out. . 

I think a Scout should know the good points of the stan- 
dard designs of tents, and the best materials, no matter 
what his preference is. The more he knows about all kinds 
of tents, the more he knows about camping, and the better 



TENTS AND TENTING 



27 



is he able to form a conclusion as to the tent that best suits 
his ideas. So I shall have something to say of tents in 
general. 

Everything considered, I believe the old-fashioned wall 
tent the best for a permanent Boy Scout camp such as we 
are discussing in this book. And I advocate 9x9 tents, 
four Scouts to a tent. 




Military Tents: Wall, Sibley, and Pyramidal Patterns 

The Modem Army Tents. — The Sibley and pyramidal 
tents, now used to a large extent by the militia and the 
army, have been adopted by quite a number of Boy Scout 
troops; although, I believe, through a mistaken idea of their 
advantages. 

The soldiers find these tents the best because they require 
but one pole as against three required by a wall tent, are 
quickly and easily pitched, shelter more occupants than the 
same amount of canvas in a wall tent, and shed rain and 
withstand wind better than any other form of tent, except 
the conical, which differs from the Sibley only in that it has 
no wall. And for a Boy Scout troop on a long camp hike 
carrying their tents in a wagon and camping each night, I 
would unhesitatingly recommend Sibleys or the army pyra- 
midal tents. For all-around service, however, they would 
prove less desirable than wall tents. 

Sportsmen's Tents. — Small troops or patrols will more 



28 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



likely incline toward the kind of camping that sports- 
men follow, than to the somewhat elaborately organized 
camp outlined in this book. They have a tendency toward 
hiking, rather than to the permanent camp. The truth is, 
lack of numbers deprives them of the element that is the 
foundation of the permanent camp. So, for their all- 
around use, I strongly recommend the most popular sports- 
men's tents, the baker, the canoe, the miner's (or trail) pat- 
terns, and in the mountains of the Northwest, the tepee. 

Each of these has its advantages. The miner's, or 
pyramid tent is, like the conical pattern, economical of 
canvas; and it can be pitched quicker than any other kind. 




Sportsmen's Tents 
On the left is the canoe pattern, in the centre the baker, and on the right the shed model, 
so made that in combination with another like it, it may be made to serve as half of a wedge, 
or A tent. The baker tent should be erected with a ridge pole, not with a rope as shown. 

Wind and rain have few terrors for it, because of its steep, 
sharp-pointed roof. It is a lightweight among tents, and a 
good one to travel with if in open country, requiring but one 
jointed pole. It is not, however, as adaptable as the canoe 
tent, which is almost as easy to pitch, and is much easier to 
heat, if necessary, by means of the camp-fire. An interest- 
ing elaboration of the miner's pattern is shown at the left of 
it, in the accompanying illustration. With a cheesecloth 
door screen and a window in the rear wall similarly screened 
and sheltered with a small awning, this tent is an airy yet 
safe hiding place where mosquitoes or black-flies are bad. 




TENTS AND TENTING 29 

It never need be closed up tight, even in the hardest rain. 
But unlike the miner's or the canoe tent, you cannot heat 
this one with the camp-fire; and it is expensive. This is the 
tent mentioned on page 78 of ''The Boy Scout's Hike 
Book." 

The canoe tent, it will be noticed, requires only a single 
jointed pole. When the rounded front is thrown back to 

let in the heat of a 
camp-fire, the pole 
must be guyed for- 
ward with twoguy- 
ropes, one to each 
side of the fire. 

Pyramid Tent (Right), and an Elaboration of It An imprOVCd pat- 

tern of this tent 
has a short ridge, and sometimes is fitted with an awning. 
The lean-to tent shown, when pitched in conjunction with 
a companion tent, makes a good A, or wedge, tent. 

The Baker Tent. — The best all-around tent for the pur- 
pose under discussion is the baker, so called because built 
like the reflector baker used by camp cooks. It is simply a 
lean-to or shed tent with a front which can be stretched as 
an awning, and a rear wall. The pitch of the roof is such 
that with the awning rolled up or thrown back on the roof, 
and the camp-fire built six feet from the open front, the 
heat of the fire is reflected down ''where it does the most 
good." I have one of these tents and, with the addition of 
a cheesecloth curtain in front to keep out insects, or where 
requiring privacy, have found it very satisfactory for sum- 
mer use in the woods. And of course it is just the thing 
in the fall. In fair weather and summer, the awning is 



30 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 




A Way to Get More Headroom in a 
Wedge Tent 



stretched as shown in the illustration. In case of a driving 
rain, the awning poles are removed and the guy-ropes 
shortened — or, you can hang an extra tarpauHn or two and 

leave the poles in position. 
We used my baker tent 
for a commissary tent at 
our Scout camp last sum- 
mer, and found it very 
satisfactory. 

You will notice that in 
the illustration some of the 
canvas is turned in at the bottom of the baker tent, also 
the lean-to. This is the sod-cloth, which is not regular 
equipment and costs extra. It is, however, a desirable 
addition to any tent. With a waterproofed ground cloth 
stretched taut and overlapping this sod-cloth, you have 
nothing left to be desired. 

The pyramid and canoe models can be suspended by a 
rope thrown over a stout limb, or by a ''pair of shears," 
which is a pair of long poles 
lashed together near the 
top and erected astride the 
tent; they should be guyed 
fore and aft. Two ways 
of erecting the baker and 
the lean-to are illustrated. 
Still another, and a very good way, is shown on pages 
86 and 123 of ''The Boy Scout's Hike Book." 

All of these tents are made up in canvas duck, khaki, 
and various lighter materials, and some are elabo- 
rated in one way and another by different makers. 




Shelter, or "Dog" Tent 

Out of place except on a hike, and not 

first-class for that 



TENTS AND TENTING 



31 
standard 



These improved models cost more than the 
designs. 

The Indian Tepee. — Personally, I am partial to the 
tepee, if camping where tepee poles are not too hard to find, 
camp is not to be moved too often, and the nights are cold. 




GOODS RE- 
QUIRED 42 
YD5.^6 INCH 
SHEETING 

Design of an Indian Tepee 
A, Suspension cord for erecting on one pole; B, Smoke-flaps; C, Pockets to receive 
ends of smokepoles; D, Overlapping flaps for lacing the lodge around the poles; E, 
Door; F, Cutting for door; G, Section of sheeting showing how to cut it to make two 
segments; H, Section of sheeting showing how to cut to make the smoke-flaps; J, Re- 
inforcement. The 17 segments should be very carefully cut, and as carefully sewn to- 
gether, using a J-inch lap seam. This is the strongest and best design, and will well 
repay the additional pains necessary to make it. It should never be used without a 
draft-curtain, the use of which is described on the following page. 

In the Canadian Rockies, where there are usually plenty of 
fire-killed jackpines of just the right size, straight and slim, 
and almost devoid of hmbs, and where the nights are cold 
even in midsummer, the tepee is the logical tent and is as 
commonly used by the guides as the baker tent is used in 



32 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 




How the Tepee Looks When 
Erected 



Nova Scotia. The standard size is fourteen feet in diam- 
eter on the ground, when pitched, and about the same height. 

At least nine poles should be used, 
and the proper number is fourteen. 
A draft-curtain, as shown in an 
accompanying sketch, is desirable. 
Inasmuch as I know of no place 
in this country where a workman- 
like tepee can be bought, and my 
tent-making experience includes 
the making of a tepee, I give 
designs that will enable Boy 
Scouts to make their own, or have the work done. For 
instructions as to the detail of tent making, see the 
chapter on Tents and Tent Making in ''The Boy Scout's 
Hike Book." 

"X-Rays" View Showing How the Draft- 
Curtain Is Used 
This is a very necessary adjunct to the tepee, 
as it greatly reduces the smoke nuisance. The 
curtain must be purposely made to fit, and'should 
be wide enough to come above the campers' 
heads when they are seated on their beds, and 
leave a couple of feet at least for turning in on 
the ground under the beds and duffle. The bot- 
tom of the tepee should not be pegged down too 
close to the ground, so as to permit of a draft, 
and the curtain must be tied to the poles, not 
sewn to the tepee. When properly hung, it 
shoots the draft up along the roof and out the 
smoke-hole, causing the fire to draw, and carry- 
ing out the smoke. The back of the tepee should 
be toward the direction from which the prevail- 
ing winds blow. Adjust the smoke-flaps to 
accommodate them to changes of wind. 

The advantages of the wall tent over the Sibley for a per- 
manent camp are: greater amount of head room, better 
accommodation of cots or beds, adaptabihty to flooring and 
the use of a fly. Both kinds have a wall, which can be 
rolled up all around for airing and to give the occupants the 




.WIND 



TENTS AND TENTING 



33 



benefit of a breeze on a hot day, and this alone gives either 
a decided advantage over most other models. There is 
no waste space on the square floor plan of the wall tent — 
lots of it in the Sibley's circle. Cots are so angular! The 
smallest Sibley worth having is a i6-footer, *' accommodat- 
ing" eight cots — and very little else. If bound to have a 
single-pole army tent, by all means get the pyramidal 
model with a wall. 

The Back- Yard Camp. — For the all-summer camp, 
either at home or elsewhere, a good wall tent, with an extra 




A Modem House Tent 
Fine for an all-summer camp, but expensive. 

long fly extending over the top and well out in front, is as 
good as any group of boys can want. Some more fortunate 
ones may have a compartment tent, or a regular house tent 
with two or three rooms, and these are fine indeed. But 
with the assistance of some rough lumber most Scouts can 
make a pretty good house tent out of a wall tent — even 
to the screen door at the front and a screened window at 
the back. An accompanying illustration suggests a good 
arrangement, having the floor elevated, to insure dryness. 
The space in front under the fly is the ''outdoor living- 



34 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 




A Good Arrangement for a Permanent Camp 



room," the tent being the bedroom. The plan of guying to 
poles, as shown, is much more satisfactory than the use of 
stakes. 

The Wall Tents. — Wall tents are more commonly made 
than any other kind, and, as a general rule, are cheaper. It 

is best to buy only those 
made of genuine U. S. 
Army standard double 
filling khaki duck, 
weighing ten ounces to 
the lineal yard. White 
duck of the same 
quality and weight is 
next to be preferred. 
A 9 X 9 tent will cost from $io for a second-hand one in 
very good condition to $i6 or $17 for a new one. These 
prices include poles and stakes. A fly will be extra, and 
a new one of lo-ounce khaki duck will cost from $8 to 
$12. In recent years the militia and the army have been 
discarding their white duck tents for khaki, and dealers in 
condemned and second-hand mihtary supphes offer some- 
times excellent tents at very reason- 
able prices. Army tents are always 
well made. 

It is possible for four boys to camp 
in a 7 X 9 tent, but it is false economy 
every way you look at it; 9 x 9 is un- Another Way 

questionably the proper size. As for still larger tents — 
that means more boys, and more than four means a crowd. 
In my troop we have three sizes of tents, 7x7,7x9, and 
9x9, and we camp two in the first, three in the next, and 




TENTS AND TENTING 



35 



four in the last. The Scouts much prefer to camp by twos, 
but one 9x9 tent costs only three fourths of what two 
7x7 tents cost. 

These 9x9 wall tents will serve all the purposes of the 
camp except as follows : 

The Mess-Tent. — For the mess- tent the average Boy 
Scout troop will need nothing better than a good big tent 
fly, pitched wedge-tent fashion. The ridge pole should be 
ten feet, or perhaps more, from the ground, to provide suf- 




So-Called Compartment Tent, With Fly 

An excellent tent for a permanent camp, and an ideal mess-tent 

But it is expensive 



ficient pitch to the roof and still leave headroom toward the 
eaves, which should be guyed about four feet from the 
ground. A fly made of lo-ounce U. S. Army standard khaki 
duck 7I yards wide by 25 feet long (eleven widths of 28-inch 
canvas) makes a good shelter for three tables accommodat- 
ing sixteen Scouts each. Cost? Well, a good deal, I must 
admit, but a regular-mess tent, made like the compartment 
tent illustrated, but without the fly, would, in the same 
size, come to half as much again, at least. 



36 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



Really, the best luck you can have, short of having a mess- 
tent presented to you, is to find you can buy a good second- 
hand one. I have seen them listed in catalogues at sur- 
prisingly low prices, a 20 x 30 tent, with 6-foot side walls, 
complete with poles, costing no more than the fly I have 
described. Dealers in condemned mihtary suppHes gener- 
ally have some of these large tents in stock. 

Commissary and Latrine Tents. — A 7 x 7 wall tent will 
do for the commissary tent. It should have an overlap- 
ping fly pitched in front to shelter a table and a packing- 
box cupboard. If using a fly for the mess-tent, and the 
troop occupies it to capacity, a small fly, say 9x9, will be 
needed to shelter the serving bench. 

For the latrine, if the troop does not purchase a regular 
latrine tent, the cost of which will not be much, one may be 

made as shown in the illustration. 
Stretch a piece of canvas for the 
roof, and make the walls of 72- 
inch heavy, unbleached sheet- 
ing, of which ten yards will be 
sufficient. 

And remember that none of 
these tents should be made of 
Kghter or cheaper canvas than 
that I have mentioned. U. S. Army standard duck is 
made for service, being strong, closely woven, and made from 
good cotton. Good goods to have over you in a heavy rain- 
storm. There are a number of much lighter materials, of 
course, which when waterproofed are to be preferred, but 
their cost puts them out of reach of Boy Scouts, except 
for the little hiking shelters. White tents are coolest. 




How to Make a Latrine Tent 



TENTS AND TENTING 37 

Care of the Canvas. — Bags should be provided for all 
tents, and will be necessary if trips are made by train. 
Grain bags will serve well enough. 

Each tent should have a number or letter stencilled on it, 
on the outside, in front at the peak, and a record be kept 
by the troop quartermaster. Bags should be stencilled 
with the name and address of the troop, and also each with 
the number or letter of the tent it contains. 

Finally, with proper care, a good tent will stand a lot of 
service and last for years. And on the other hand, mildew 
(from the tent being pitched in constant shade, or being 
stored damp or kept in a damp storage place), and rough 
usage can put it out of commission in one season. It is 
good scouting to apply Section 9 of the Scout Law to the care 
of troop tents. 



CHAPTER V 

PERSONAL EQUIPMENT 

CONSIDERING the amount of ^'fussing around" a 
really interested fellow indulges in as preparation to 
go camping, it would seem this chapter must be a 
long one loaded with much detail. And it would indeed, if 
we were to attempt to follow the hunt through all the de- 
lightful mazes of anticipation. But that, in its turn, would 
result in robbing the reader of some of his own rightful 
share of those same joys. For after all, the joys of an- 
ticipation are dependent upon one's imagination. By no 
means, however, do we find ourselves in ''dull seas." The 
real excitement of the chase often lies in cutting corners. 

So here we are, half prepared, with a pack-sack com- 
pletely rigged out, a knowledge of camp beds and camp 
cooking, and various other camping preparations all at- 
tended to in a previous volume. What now? 

Let us have a look in that pack-sack. Ah, a frying-pan. 
Out with it; the ''billy can," too. All the cooking will be 
done over one fire, with an outfit of amazing big utensils 
owned by the troop. 

A Different Mess-Kit. — You want a plate, dessert dish, 
bowl, cup, knife, fork, and a couple of spoons. And you 
must mark them, everyone, so you can establish your owner- 
ship of them if they get mixed up with those belonging to 

38 



PERSONAL EQUIPMENT 



39 




your tent mates. Take a hammer and a nail, lay tinware 
or aluminum on a fiatiron, and punch your mark with a 
nail. Mark knife and fork with a file, and enamelware with 
oil paint. Get white enamel dishes if you can. 

You will not need to carry more than the minimum of 
first-aid supplies, as the troop will have a hospital tent. 
You could easily do without any, but I presume you want 
to ''be prepared." In addition to a roller 
bandage, some sterilized gauze for a 
compress or two, a square inch of absorb- 
ent cotton, and a small rubber-stoppered 
vial of tincture of iodine, it will be wise 
to have a small jar of carbolated vaseline 
for sunburn; spool of |-inch surgeon's 
plaster; some soda mint tablets for sour 
stomach; a cathartic — pills to be pre- 
ferred, and of whatever kind you are used 
to; sun cholera mixture for diarrhoea, 
etc., and some sort of toothache remedy 
if it may be needed. In this connection, 
I need hardly say a Scout will be least apt of all boys to 
have toothache, because he takes care of his teeth and is 
not afraid of the dentist. Still, an unsuspected cavity may 
declare itself, or an ulceration develop. Essence of pepper- 
mint and oil of cloves are standard toothache cures. A 
mixture of equal parts of aconite and iodine is a standard 
remedy. Tincture of iodine, in my experience, serves all 
practical purposes. It has the advantage over the usual 
remedies in that it is not stumped by an ulceration, which 
generally requires the attention of a dentist. Remember, 
oil of cloves and tincture of iodine must be labelled ''Poison.'^ 



The old-style army 
haversack altered to 
serve as a pack-sack, 
with blanket-roll at- 
tached. A very good 
pack-sack copied from 
this has recently been 
placed on the market 
to sell especially to 
Boy Scouts. 



40 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



The ^'pharmacy" will be contained in a couple of screw- 
top mailing cases, as suggested in the previous volume. A 
can of talcum powder may not come amiss; a comfort to 
scalded feet. 

While we are about it, we may as well pack the pack- 
sack to capacity. 

A Larger Ditty-Kit. — For the summer camp, it is well 

to have a larger ditty-kit than the little one carried on hikes. 

You will find you have an abundance of things to put in it. 

^^ ^v Your toilet articles, 

in addition to a 
comb, soap (in a 
soap box or a rub- 
ber tobacco pouch), 
tooth brush and 
tooth soap, may now 
include a hair brush, 
a hand mirror, and a 
whiskbroom; also, if 
you are getting to be 
Sewing-kit, post cards or 



> • 




How to Make the Ditty-Kit 

a big Scout — a shaving outfit 
a writing pad and stamped envelopes, notebook, fishing- 
lines, hooks and lures, and various odds and ends, will round 
out a fat ditty-kit. 

There is still room in the pack-sack for a baseball and 
glove, Scout manual, signal flags, toilet paper, little bag of 
handkerchiefs, and if you have them, camera and films, and 
a field-glass. You perhaps could manage to crowd in one 
or two more things, but don't forget that you will want that 
little space on top for the good things you will almost surely 
buy on the way — candy, bananas, chewing-gum, fruit 



PERSONAL EQUIPMENT 



41 



crackers, doughnuts; cookies. You can't possibly get them 
all in your pockets. 

Duffle Bags. — It is out of the question to carry all the 
duffle you will want to take done up in your blanket-roll. 
You could manage by taking only an extra suit of under- 
wear, extra socks, and a towel. But there is your bathing 
suit, bath towel, sneaks, perhaps a baseball suit, your 
shorts and long stockings, an athletic shirt, pajamas (best 
of outing flannel), a tiny down or "silk floss" pillow, dish 
towels, shoe cloth, a pair of rubbers, poncho or raincoat, 
and maybe a masquerade costume. Most troops, I believe, 
carry a lot of suitcases and handbags. A more workman- 
like way is for each tent squad of four to have a common 
duffle bag. One 18 x 36 inches in dimensions, made of 
heavy waterproofed brown canvas, and with handles on 
bottom and side, will cost but $2.10, and will hold an un- 
believable amount of duffle. And when emptied 
in camp it occupies no room at all, whereas 
suitcases are apt to be in the way. 

These duffle bags also reduce the transporta- 
tion problem considerably , as you would quickly 
perceive if you were to see ten of them, empty, 
rolled in a neat armful alongside forty suit- 
cases. And think how much more scoutlike 
the outfit would look, piled up on the station 
platform, or being hauled out to the camp 
ground; to say nothing of how much more 
quickly and easily it could be handled. When 
the question comes up, vote for a couple of duffle bags for 
your patrol. You can get them from any of the large 
camp outfitters. No, you will not need a ''safe place'' to 




42 



TEE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



keep your things in camp — at least Hot in a Boy Scout 
camp. If you get such a bag, let each Scout have a small 
bag of brown denim, 17 inches in diameter by 18 inches 
high, with round bottom, to stow his belongings in. Four 
will go in the big dufHe bag, one on top of the other, when 
they are puckered and tied. 

Your Camp Bed. — For your bed, you perhaps can have 
a folding camp cot. Good ones can be had for as low as 
$2.50, and if the problem of transportation does not inter- 
fere, your Scout Master may advise you to get one. If 
your troop uses 7x7 canoe tents, you can put the two folded 
cots, the tent, and the jointed pole, all in one bag, tent out- 




Good Type of Folding Camp Cot 

ward to insulate the "furniture." Twenty such bags for 
a troop of forty Scouts make a very workmanlike outfit, 
though expensive. 

Handy Scouts can make good stretchers, and in a per- 
manent camp will set them up better than when on a hike. 
The hiker's stretcher- tick, described in ''The Boy Scout's 
Hike Book," will serve the purpose of the summer camp, 
and relieve the troop quartermaster of excess baggage wor- 
ries. An alternative is a tick made with heavy sheeting, 
denim or Ught duck for the top, and black oilcloth for the 
bottom, to be stuffed with hay or straw. The oilcloth will 



PERSONAL EQUIPMENT 43 

keep out dampness from the ground, and the tick may with 
safety be laid right on the ground. And the somewhat 
difficult task of making a good stretcher cot is dispensed 
with. Such a tick should be 28 x 66 inches when empty. 
One advantage of using ticks instead of cots is, during 
the day they may be stacked two and two on each side of 
the tent, with the blankets folded and laid on top. This 
provides not only more foot- 
room in the tent, but better ,^^~ ^^<^ ^ ^f ^ — — \ 

seating accommodations. / '^ ^ " ^ ^^V\ 

No amount of rough-house ^^ ^ ^. , „,.,, ^., , ,, ^ ,, 

° The Camp Tick, With Oilcloth Bottom 

can break the furniture. 

And with a board floor in the tent there is nothing much 

left to be desired. 

Double-Deck Bunks. — Some boys' camps have stretcher 
bunks, made of rough lumber, with the canvas stretchers 
tacked on the poles. These bunks are generally "double- 
deckers," being arranged like the upper and lower berths of 
a steamboat stateroom, and four bunks on a stand of three 
upright frames or trusses, eight in a tent, which must be a 
12 X 14 or larger. This is a good arrangement under the 
circumstances for which it was worked out. It calls for 
quite a lot of lumber, and considerable carpentry, and is 
adapted to a permanent camping ground, such as those 
maintained by the Y. M. C. A., or the various summer 
schools and camps conducted as business enterprises, and 
open for from four to ten weeks. It is not to be recom- 
mended for the average Boy Scout camp, unless there hap- 
pens to be a sawmill or other source of cheap lumber near 
at hand. The point to remember is, these bunks are made 
in knock-down form, are owned by the organization run- 



44 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

ning the camp, and are bolted up and taken down on the 
same camp grounds year after year, being stored close by in 
the interval between camping seasons. As the membership 
of a Boy Scout troop changes somewhat from year to year, 
likewise in most cases the camp-site, and as the average 
troop pays its own way in camp, the individual Scout has 
to furnish his own bed. As for those big tents with eight 
fellows under the one roof — we will not discuss them; too 
much like a sailors' lodging house. 

Make very sure you are going to have a good bed, for 
you cannot enjoy your outing without plenty of sound sleep. 
Note the little pillow above mentioned, and see that you 
have one about a foot square. It need not be very thick, 
for you can fold up a garment or two to put under it. It 
should be covered with brown denim, and have a couple of 
washable cases. 

Blanket Wisdom. — Also, be sure your blanket is amply 
large and heavy, and that it is all wool. If you have done 
no overnight hiking, or camping of any kind, do not im- 
agine that you require no more covering than you do in 
your room at home. You are apt to be shivering with the 
cold in camp when you would be kicking the sheet off at 
home. You must remember you are going away, and will 
be sleeping very close to out of doors, with perhaps not 
even a single thickness of boards under you to keep down 
the night chill of Old Mother Earth. If you sleep on a can- 
vas cot, you will make no mistake in taking along an extra 
double blanket to fold under you as a mattress, to insulate 
you against the cold from underneath. If you have a 
stretcher-tick such as I recommend, you can get around the 
difficulty by stuffing the bag with straw, hay, ferns or 



PERSONAL EQUIPMENT 45 

browse. If you use the latter, you must remember to select 
only the tips of the fir or spruce boughs; leave out all stems, 
for your browse must go in higgedly piggedly, instead of 
being all neatly placed with the tips up and the stems down 
as in shingling. Take two double blankets along just the 
same, if you can get them, for it is not likely either one of 
them will weigh more than five pounds. The average 
blanket (double) used by mountainmen weighs from eight 
to twelve pounds. And they generally find use as well for 
a saddle blanket weighing five pounds. You will of course 
roll your blankets in your stretcher-tick, or if you are to 
use a folding cot, in your poncho, and carry them over your 
shoulder or strapped around your pack-sack. 

The Western Bed-Roil. — ''But," you may say, "I be- 
long to a troop that is going camping in the mountains, 
where everything will have to be carried on packhorses." 
Or perhaps, "We are going on a canoe trip, 'way off in the 
woods, and will have to make a lot of portages." 

Well, that does call for something different, at least in the 
way of packing the duffle. On such trips, the beds will be 
made on the ground, of browse — fir, spruce or pine. 
There will be no need of the stretcher-tick. But you must 
be sure to have two double blankets. The mildest nights 
in the mountains or the deep woods are seldom so warm as 
to make ten or twelve pounds of blankets unnecessary. 

Get a canvas roll-up for your blankets, Hke the one 
shown in the accompanying diagram. This is just Hke a 
big ditty-kit without pockets. And in it you will roll up 
not only your blankets and pillow, but all your other 
"worldly goods." It will hold your ditty-kit, extra cloth- 
ing, rubber boots, everything, even a camera tripod or a 



46 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



fibre fishing-rod case. (And, by the way, if you ever do 
take one of the latter on a trip with you, put a straight- 
handle umbrella in it.) You need neither dufHe-bag nor 
pack-sack, although you may well have the latter along to 



PI LLO 
HEAD ( 



29/2 



INNER 
COVER 




OR 
VER. 



BOTTC 

V 

2b' 



29/2' 



OUTER 
COVER 



39" 
FOOT COVER 





n 



How to Make a Canvas Roll-Up 
How it is folded for use, and how rolled up. Ordinary _hamess snaps are best for fastenings 



carry your lunch and camera on some of your side hikes, if 
going to the mountains. 

This bed-roll makes a side pack for a packhorse, or stows 
neatly in a canoe. The roll-up itself should not cost more 
than $3.50. Any awning maker can turn one out if shown 
the drawing. Make sure the snaps and rings are properly 
placed and securely sewed. Waterproof the bottom (not 



PERSONAL EQUIPMENT 47 

the flaps) before having it made (see pages 92 and 94, 
''The Boy Scout's Hike Book") and — hang on to it, for 
it is about as practical a piece of camper's duffle as you will 
ever get hold of. 

Art in the Rolling. — For portaging the roll on a canoe 
trip, it should be rolled tightly, and a 5-foot length of strap 
tied to the two encircling ropes, in the form of a pack 
harness. Tie the centre of the strap around the upper rope 
with a single knot, carry each half toward a lower corner of 
the roll, and tie to the lower rope with a single knot, then 
carry under and tie the end to same rope on opposite side 
of the rofl. If ropes are tight and straps properly adjusted, 
the roll will carry well. 

For carrying on a packhorse, it is best to rope the roll 
rather loosely, so it wifl be kidney shaped in cross section, 
instead of round when the hitch is thrown. In other words 
it should be loose enough to conform to the side of the horse, 
to permit of a good pack being made. 

And this, by the way, is also the best rig for carrying your 
duflie on a hike with a baggage wagon. It or something 
similar is used by cowboys, prospectors, woodsmen, and 
mountainmen all over the Northwest. Yet I have never 
seen it mentioned in any handbook on camping, and know 
of no camp outfitter in this country that manufactures it. 
The dimensions given in the diagram are taken from one I 
bought in Edmonton, Alberta. Sew an extra bottom on it, 
and you can use it as a tick or a stretcher. Ordinarily you 
sleep in it, on a bed of boughs, with the foot and side 
flaps snapped over to hold you snuggly in your blankets, 
and the head flap snapped down over your extra 
clothing serving as a pillow. In case of sleeping out, 



48 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

without a tent, the head flap may be used to protect your 
head. 

When Everything Is Collected. — Of course, you must 
mark all your things, so no question of ownership can arise. 
And having done so, you will do best not to indulge any 
bent for trading. That would mix things up. 

Make a check list of your possessions, and be sure you 
start it long before camping time comes around. You will 
find it growing amazingly toward the last. But do not let 
this bother you. When you come to pack up, you will 
cross off nearly everything you can do without. 

Your full uniform, belt, knife, axe, and whistle, and pos- 
sibly your staff, will complete your personal outfit. If you 
are a patrol leader you will of course take your staff and 
patrol flag, whether the troop carry staffs or not. You 
will doubtless go in heavy marching order, carrying your 
pack-sack and blanket-roll, if the trip to camp is to be made 
by rail or by boat. If you are to hike it, all your baggage 
should be hauled for you. Sometimes the order of the day 
— and what a big day it is ! — is heavy marching order to 
the place where you ''jump off" from train or boat, and then 
wagon transportation to camp for everything that cannot 
walk. In any event, if you are going to take a fishing rod 
or a bow and arrows, you will be wise to carry them. Base- 
ball bats, tied together, can go with the baggage. 




"you're on the right trail; just keep a-goin'" 
Prospector, surveyors, and Boy Scouts meet on the trail; an incident on 
a hike from a Rocky Mountain troop's summer camp. 



49 



CHAPTER VI 

THE troop's camping KIT 

SOME Boy Scout troops are born with a camping out- 
fit, some acquire it, and others have it thrust upon 
them," said our troop comedian one day, surveying 
a camp stove we had invented. ''If we have to depend 
upon that thing to casserole our eats, I'm going right out 
and provoke somebody to throw a kitchen range at me.'' 

In reahty we couldn't have had a much better camp stove 
"thrust" upon us. I shall describe our invention further 
along in this chapter. At the same time, it was due to our 
being presented with the tents of a defunct cadet organiza- 
tion that we had a much better camp than we otherwise 
would have had. 

It All Depends. — In this connection I want to say it is 
not my wish to discourage by what I say in this chapter, the 
acceptance by Boy Scout troops of even unsatisfactory 
camping equipment that may be placed at their disposal. 
Every Scout Master, of course, wants to see the Scouts get 
their own equipment if they can. But it costs quite a bit 
to completely outfit the average troop. And it may be 
very difficult indeed for the boys to earn the money. The 
*' shows" that prove so successful in some places are not 
possible in others. It is sometimes difficult enough for the 
boys to get sufficient "camp money" merely to pay for 

so 



THE TROOP'S CAMPING KIT 51 

grub and transportation. Let it be remembered that the 
tents you already have, or that are offered to you, either as 
a donation or as a loan, while they may not conform with 
your ideas and plans, are, nevertheless, ''yours to com- 
mand," while those which you have been dreaming of might 
easily cost your troop a couple of hundred dollars, or even 
more. Then consider where all that money would have 
to come from. 

Obviously, I cannot prescribe for the use of all the tents 
of almost endless variety and condition that Boy Scout 
troops are bound to have. So it must be understood that 
the wall tents to which I refer from time to time have been 
taken as the average or standard. They do not in any 
sense represent the ideal; it is by no means my intention to 
discuss what might in most cases be extravagant equipment. 

To begin with tents, the troop will need one 9x9 wall 
tent for every four boys, a tent for the Scout Master and 
his orderly (generally a trumpeter), a hospital tent, which 
will be occupied by the Assistant Scout Master or the troop 
leader; a mess-tent, and a commissary tent. One Scout or 
a hired or volunteer cook may occupy half of the commis- 
sary tent, depending x)n conditions. In many cases the 
Scout Master will have a tent of his own which he will pre- 
fer to use, and thus save the troop that much expense. 

Get the Best. — The subject of tents having been covered 
in a previous chapter, it but remains for me to urge troops 
buying tents to select the material recommended as being 
the best — genuine U. S. Army standard khaki duck of 
lo-ounce weight. The khaki may cost a little more than 
white duck, but it is more than worth the difference for 
camping out in the open in the middle of the summer. 



52 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

When it fades a little it is almost as cool as weather-stained, 
white duck. And it never has the glare which on a bril- 
liant day makes a clean white tent more or less distressing 
to the eyes of most of us. This is something really impor- 
tant, as you will understand when you realize that it applies 
to not only one tent, but a whole circle of them. In mili- 
tary camps I have found that so long as one was in camp on 
a brilHant summer day, the glare of white canvas was 
bothersome. And if one was a bit the worse for the weather 
and went into the tent to lie down, the sun "bored right 
through the tent," and forced one to cover the eyes or 
wear dark glasses. Under khaki there is no such trouble; 
on the contrary, the drab or tan-coloured roof over one is 
restful to the eyes and mind. Furthermore, the flies are 
less bothersome, as they are less fond of the darker interior 
of a tan-coloured tent. And in the event of a severe elec- 
trical storm at night, the glare of the lightning does not 
disturb one so much. 

If good tents are purchased, the spike ends of the upright 
poles will be secured against splitting by a ferrule, and each 
end of the ridge poles will be strengthened in a similar man- 
ner. The guy-ropes preferably should be J-inch hemp, with 
metal sHdes. It will pay in the long run to invest in angle 
iron tent stakes, costing 25 cents a dozen more than the 
wooden ones which ordinarily are supplied with the tent. 
They will last indefinitely, whereas some of the wooden ones 
are apt to be broken the first time used. Those for the guy- 
ropes should be not less than fifteen inches long, and those 
for the bottom of the tent not less than nine. Each tent 
should have its own bag of stakes. 

The Friendly Camp Chair. — The amount of equipment 



TEE TROOP'S CAMPING KIT 53 

a troop takes to its annual encampments naturally must 
depend largely upon circumstances and conditions. At 
various military encampments I have found that no able- 
bodied camp stool was long out of a job while the soldiers 
were in camp. And at our own Scout camp last summer, 
my folding camp chair, the only sure-enough portable seat 
in camp, was seemingly always as much in demand as a 
head barber's chair on a Saturday night. Certainly a few 
folding chairs or camp stools are not to be despised, regard- 
less of the fact that they are by no means necessary. The 
camp furniture you expect to make when you get to camp 
seldom materializes; for by the time you have constructed 
that which is necessary you have had all you want of that 
kind of work. Too many other things to do — and it is 
so easy for a boy to sit on the ground. So I counsel at least 
one camp chair or stool for each patrol. You will certainly 
need them if you have any lady visitors. There are any 
number of ways by which each patrol can decide every day 
who shall be custodian of the camp stool for the next. Think 
of a good- turn competition! 

While we are on the subject of furniture, we may as well 
discuss tools, some of which will be necessary for making 
the mess tables and benches. 

Tools. — With so many Scout axes, no hammer is re- 
quired. But there must be at least one full-sized axe with a 
long handle. Let it be a good one, sharp, and provided 
with a muzzle. It is the common belief that any ordinary 
axe will do, and perhaps the rule for some one in the troop 
to provide one. This most likely is an old axe, very dull, 
and much abused. Inasmuch as the troop is organized 
largely for the purpose of education, is it not a much more 



54 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



reasonable thing to buy a proper axe and have every fellow 
learn to use it rightly? I think so, and recommend not 
only one, but two axes. Let one be a "half" size, for the 
smaller boys, and the other a " three-quarter." The former 
will weigh about 2^ pounds (for the head) and have a 24- 
inch handle, the latter 3 pounds and have a 28-inch handle. 
A full axe weighs from 3 J to 5 pounds, and the standard 
handle for heavy chopping is 36 inches long. Such an axe 
is too big for any but man-size Scouts to handle. 

I consider the best axe is the true wedge shape, with the 
bit of course a third longer than the heel, or poll. And it is 

imperative to me that 
it be properly helved. 
The helve must be 
ahgned with the eye, or 
hole of the axe, and the 
bit or edge should be 
directly in line with the 
centre of the hilt or end 
of the helve. Further- 
more, the hilt has to be exactly at a right angle to the 
centre of the eye. If the helve is hickory, nicely shaped 
and not too light, I consider my axe properly helved. 
Since boyhood I have been a crank on this subject, 
doubtless because among my earliest recollections are 
those of serious-faced men gravely discussing the proper 
*'hang" of an axe. They made their own axe helves, 
and you may well beheve they knew just how to fit 
them. 

A new axe is never considered sharp by a woodsman. He 
grinds the edge much thinner before using it. At least pro- 




Some Axes 
The wedge shape is the best. 



TEE TROOFS CAMPING KIT 55 

vide a good file for sharpening the axe in camp if it becomes 
dull. 

Do not neglect the muzzle. It is not difHcult to make a 
good one if you have leather and rivets. Fix a strap to 
buckle around the helve back of the poll. 

Other tools the troop will require to take to camp are, a 
large handsaw, a round-point shovel with short handle, a 
|-inch auger, perhaps a sickle and a pick, this depending on 
whether grass or weeds must be cut and if the ground is 
rocky; and a small garden spray, for spraying the disin- 
fectants. Desirable accessories are a pair of wire-cutting 
pliers, a small square, a combination tool set, a tape measure, 
and a couple of tent needles. Supplies will include nails, 
tacks, screw hooks, few spools of soft wire, pulley, and rope 
for the flag-pole, strong rope for suspension bridge building, 
if any is planned, ball of twine, three or four clothes-Hnes, 
canvas for patching tents if needed. 

The Camp Chests. — Two boxes will be required to carry 
these tools, accessories, the cook and mess-kit, and the stove 
or stoves. They should be strongly constructed, to with- 
stand rough handhng, and may well be specially made 
instead of the usual packing boxes. If this is done, each 
should be 36 inches long, 30 inches wide, and 24 inches deep, 
outside dimensions, and have two removable lengthwise 
partitions. The lid should swing on a pair of hinges from 
which the pins can be withdrawn, and be secured with hasp, 
staple, and padlock. Such a box should have a rope handle 
at each end, and be roped for shipping. In camp, set on its 
side, on a couple of square sticks of wood, with the lid re- 
moved and the partitions in place it becomes a good table 
and cupboard for the commissary tent. Two boxes placed 



56 



TEE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



end to end furnish a table 6 feet long by 2 feet wide, with 
32 square feet of shelf room underneath. The lids, placed 
on makeshift supports, will furnish another big table. 

For the camp stove, I doubt if any Boy Scout troops have 
found anything better than the two shown in accompanying 
illustrations, which I shall describe. 

A Collapsible Camp Stove. — The plan of the "collap- 
sible" stove may be a by no means new idea, although I 
have reason to beheve it is the invention of Mr. DeWitt 
Smith, of Yankton, S. D. He made such a stove, or had it 

made for him, a few years 
ago. And from a sketch 
of it sent me by a mutual 
friend, I had a local tin- 
smith make one for me. For 
the purpose for which it 
was made, it is certainly a 
complete success. Its con- 
struction is shown in the 
drawing. Both sides are hinged, and it folds flat Hke a 
screen. The top is stiffened by a couple of strips of strap 
iron, riveted on the under side, and by having the edges of 
the holes bent around a hoop of round iron. The sides are 
likewise stiffened by the edges being bent around round iron, 
and by the legs. The hinges are ordinary strap hinges 
riveted on. Dimensions are: top, 10x20 inches; sides, 
6 X 20 inches, the legs extending 4 inches. Holes are 5 
inches in diameter. One side folds under the top, the other 
over it. Material is sheet iron. 

A similar stove, but larger, having larger holes, placed 
farther apart, and one of heavier material, is necessary for 




The Folding Camp Stove 



THE TROOP'S CAMPING KIT 



57 



cooking for a troop; this one of mine is but for family use. 
Good dimensions would be: top 12 x 28 inches, sides 8 x 28 
inches, and holes 8 inches in diameter. Two such stoves 
would do all the cooking for any average troop. And the 
cost should not be more than $3 each. My stove, which has 
unnecessarily elaborate construction, cost $2.50. By using 
a good stiff grade of sheet steel, no round iron work would 
be necessary. 

A Sectional Stove Top. — The sectional stove is nothing 
more than a top, and is used with a fire pit, as shown in the 
sketch. When I was in the Iowa National Guard, we 




Tbe Sectional Stove Top in Use; Flue Not Shown 

had sheet steel stove tops for the different companies, but 
they were not sectional. Naturally, they were awkward to 
transport, and inclined to warp. When the question of a 
stove for our Boy Scout troop came up last summer, I thought 
of making a top of sheet steel, and having it in sections. And 
the result is most satisfactory. The sections are not ex- 
actly the same size, for the reason that they must ''nest'* 
one in the other, for transportation. Each one being 
turned down all around, as shown in the sketch, the top is 
thoroughly stiffened, and as the material is i6-gauge steel 
there has been no tendency to warp. The sections are con- 



58 



TEE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



nected by wiring through eight small holes drilled for the 
purpose. Dimensions of the largest section are 15 x 24 
inches. The holes are standard size, 8J inches in diameter, 
one in each section. 




Cross-Section View of the Sectional Stove Top, Fire Pit, and Flue 
A tile or a tin can will serve for the chimney. The trench for the flue is covered with 
brush, then with earth. A hillside site, with the flue uphill and the entrance to the fire pit 
downhill, adds efl&ciency, but is not always feasible. 

Directions for using these stoves should not be necessary. 

The *' Tinware." — Cooking and mess utensils may be 
few and simple. But they must be good. The troop 
should buy them weeks before camping time, for the reason 
that they cannot bd bought in the average housefurnishing 




The Troop Cooking Kit 
I to 4, cooking pots; 5, frying-pans; 6, water pails; 7, serving trays; 8, pans; 9, floui 
cans; 10, quart measure; 11, dippers; 12, butter plates and covers; 13, milk cans; 14, 
cutlery kit; 15, cake turners; 16, ladles; 17, salt dredge. 

store, but must be ordered. The kind made for hotels and 
restaurants, and nothing cheaper, should be chosen. The 
following will amply supply all practical needs for the aver- 
age troop* 



TEE TROOP'S CAMPING KIT 59 

TROOP COOKING KIT 

Two 7-gallon round wash boilers, with Hds (14 x 14 inches). 

Two 6-gallon soup stock pots, with Hds (13 x iif inches). 

Two 4f -gallon soup stock pots (iijxii.l inches). 

Two 3}-gallon soup stock pots (10^ x io| inches). 

One 25 x 25 X 4-inch warming pan. (Like a roasting pan.) 

This will have to be made to order. Do not omit. A 

local tinsmith can make it. 
Two 14-inch stamped steel frying-pans, with long handles 

riveted on. See sketch. 
Three galvanized water pails (one for dish- washing). 
Two small garbage buckets, one small enough to nest inside 

the other. 
Two I -gallon milk pails with lids. 
Four flour cans, sizes to nest, largest 10 x 10 inches. 
Four large serving trays. 
One 12-inch tin tray for each Scout. 
Four dippers. 
Two cooking ladles. 
Six large pans. 

Six enamelled butter plates. 
Six enamelled bowls for covers for butter plates. 
Two-third dozen salt and pepper shakers (dredges). 
Two cake turners. 
Six large cooking spoons. 
Three large cooking forks. 
Two carving knives. 
One butcher knife. 
One-half dozen tablespoons. 
One can opener. 
One spring scale. 

One quart measure. The Warming Pan, and a Battery 

One tin wash-basin. °^ ^^'^ 

Other House-Keeping Equipment. — In addition to the 
above, there will be needed : 3 dish mops, J dozen large dish 




6o THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

cloths, 6 yards of towelling, from lo to 15 yards of yard- 
wide white oilcloth, according to number of Scouts going to 
camp, and 10 yards of cheesecloth. 

All this — tools, utensils, etc., will go in the two camp 
chests, with room to spare for careful packing with straw 
and burlap. The burlap will be needed in camp. 

Or course there will be other things — odds and ends 
that are handy in camp, but these need not be regular 
troop equipment, and will be mentioned in a later chapter 
when we come to packing up. 

The garbage can? Get a great, big, strong one with side 
handles, and use it as a packing case to take some of your 
goods and chattels in. It will relieve you of the necessity of 
having more than one camp chest, although when you get to 
camp you will admit the other box would be mighty handy. 

Yes, take a lantern. But be sure it is empty when it is 
packed. Carbide Hghts are better. 

And the wash-basins? Why, what is the matter with 
the lake or the swimming hole? Of course, if it is to be a 
dry camp the need of some tin basins will be pretty urgent. 

Hospital Equipment. — The Red Cross tent equipment 
need not be elaborate. In addition to a Red Cross hospital 
corps pouch and its contents, it may be necessary for the 
troop to provide nothing more than a stretcher, a couple of 
cots with blankets, sheets and pillows^ a carbide lantern, 
some palm -leaf fans, mosquito netting, and an agateware 
toilet set. The Scout Master or his Assistant may be de- 
pended upon to have a pretty complete medicine kit, and 
to provide himself with such additional surgical suppHes 
and medical stores as may be required. For the informa- 
tion of the Scout, I append a sample list. 



THE T ROOFS CAMPING KIT 6i 

MEDICAL STORES 

1 jar carbolized vaseline. 

2 tins borated talcum powder. 

2 i-oz. bottles tincture of iodine, rubber cork. 

1 drachm oil of cloves. 

4 oz. aromatic spirits of ammonia, rubber cork. 

2 boxes Seidlitz powders, 12 in a box. 
6 oz. essence of ginger. 

4 doz. 3-gr. quinine sulphate tablets or capsules. 
50 soda mint tablets. 
100 |-gr. calomel and bicarbonate of soda tablets. 

I 6-oz. bottle of aromatic castor oil cordial. 
100 sun cholera tablets (Poison — use with caution). 
100 3-gr. Dover's powder tablets. 
100 5-gr. asperin tablets. 

SURGICAL SUPPLIES 

1 package antiseptic gauze, in small, sealed envelopes. 
8 gauze roller bandages, sizes i to 3 inch. 

2 small cartons sterilized absorbent cotton. 
2 U. S. Army first aid dressings. 

I roll oiled silk in tube. 
I roll musHn for bandages in mailing case. 
I roll 3-inch adhesive plaster. 
I roll |-inch adhesive plaster. 
I paper medium size safety pins. 
I paper medium size common pins. 
6 assorted surgeon's needles, with catgut, in sterile tubes. 
25 corrosive sublimate tablets (blue). 
|-lb. boric acid powder. 
I cake germicidal soap in box. 
6-oz. bottle carbolic acid. 
I I -minute clinical thermometer. 
I pair straight artery forceps. 
I pair curved artery forceps. 
I pair bandage scissors. 



62 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

I pair fine-pointed splinter forceps. 
I No. 6 soft rubber catheter. 

SEPARATE KIT FOR THE TREATMENT OF SNAKE BITE 

I hypodermic syringe. 

I surgeon's bistoury. 

I Esmarch tourniquet. 

I stick silver nitrate in a blue bottle. 

I bottle of ICO aV-gr. strychnia sulphate tablets. 

Hypodermic injections should ordinarily only be made 
by a physician. However, with the hypodermic needle and 




A Folding Baker and Its Case 
This is not mentioned in the text. Necessary only if bread 
and biscuits must be baked in camp, then almost indispens- 
able. It cannot be used with a fire pit — it requires a high fire. 

four articles last mentioned, any well-balanced man can 
successfully treat dangerous serpent wounds if he follows 
carefully the directions for their use given by Dr. Charles 
Stuart Moody, in his excellent Httle book, ''Back- 
woods Surgery and Medicine," a handbook every Scout 
Master should have. He naturally will also have the 
"American Red Cross Text Book on First Aid and Relief 
Columns." 
Medical stores and surgical supplies will not be carried 



TEE TROOP'S CAMPING KIT 



63 



promiscuously, but in a case or two specially made for the 
purpose, fitted with screw-top, square, glass bottles. To 
facilitate the arrangement of these in a compact case, some 
of the suppHes I have mentioned as being contained in a 6- 
ounce bottle will be divided between two smaller ones. 

First Hand Information. — I do not designate the uses 
for the different medicines, because the Scout or Scout 
oflSicial who is in charge of such an outfit must certainly have 
also at least the two handbooks I have mentioned, a note- 
book filled with directions for ministering to the 
sick, and a good knowledge of his work. If, 
however, the reader is interested in becoming 
the Scout nurse of his troop, and has to start 
at the beginning he has made in passing his 
Boy Scout Second- and First-Class tests in first 
aid, this Hst will serve as a first-rate lever with 
which to pry his way into the confidence of his 
family physician and the corner pharmacist. 
This, in the end, will result in a far better 
knowledge, a far safer knowledge, I may even 
say, than he might have when called upon to 
use the medicines, etc., I have listed, if he were 
to rely upon the brief instructions I could give him in the 
few lines I would have space for in this book. And it is 
certain that he would not take the list to the doctor and 
the druggist if such instructions were given. 

Copy the list into your *' doctor book," which should be 
a loose-leaf notebook of pocket — not vest-pocket — size. 
Then write down all you can learn, from authoritative 
sources, about the proper use of such an outfit. And 
you'll be well on your way to becoming a pretty safe 




Canvas Water 
Bottle 
Handy, but 
not a neces- 
sity. Keeps 
water sweet 
and cool. 



64 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

camp *' doctor," a fellow we are all glad to have about 
after his first enthusiasm has settled down to the sober 
seriousness that proves it was not a ''flash in the pan." 

"Foiled!" — The Scout Master, of course, is the chief 
surgeon of the troop. And when you get to camp he may, 
if any real sickness developes, knock the props from under 
your pride in your knowledge and equipment by taking the 
sick boy home right away in an automobile. Even so, if 
you have helped to diagnose the difficulty you will have 
done much. You should be encouraged to cheer up and 
wait for something less serious. Some fellow is apt to get 
a mild case of abdominal cramp. Then a little of that gin- 
ger — but that is telling ! 

As this is a boy's book, we will not bother about the 
Scout Master's kit. If it suits him, and the quartermaster 
doesn't kick, it certainly is no affair of ours what he takes, 
and we will skip along about our business. Anyhow, it is 
getting close to camping time. Lots doing in the next 
chapter ! 



CHAPTER VII 

OFF TO CAMP 

LUCKY for you that you have been detailed for duty 
in the work of getting everything ''prepared" for 
the big day when the troop is to be off to camp. 
Otherwise the last few days would be painfully slow to pass. 
The treasurer of the troop has been collecting the "camp 
dues" from the Scouts, the quartermaster has been checking 
over the outfit, making careful inquiries, and doing more or 
less dickering about transportation charges. A detail has 
been at work overhauling the tents, tools, cooking and mess 
kits, etc. The troop comedian has been laying mysterious 
plots for a ''big show." And the poor "Com.mittee on 
Grub!" They report suffering with chronic headache. 
"It is bad enough to have to figure out a grub list," they 
say, "but trying to get any one in this bunch to agree on 
even one day's menu is the Hmit ! " 

The "Cruel" Scout Master. — Meantime the Scout 
Master has maintained a discouragingly distant attitude. 
Says he isn't running any boarding camp for Boy Scouts, 
and hopes everybody understands it. He has the notion that 
the Scouts should make all the preparations themselves, 
and report to him through their troop officers. Well, 
maybe he has his own troubles getting his affairs arranged 
so he can get away. And of course it is good practice for 

6s 



66 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

you Scouts to have responsibility — teaches you initiative. 
Nevertheless, it is a good thing the Scout Master is going 
to **go over things" before he sends the advance detail, or 
*' pioneers," up to the camp ground, which will be the day 
before the troop leaves. You would feel rather uncertain 
about what would be the outcome if he were not. 

Comes the last troop meeting. No scouting that night; 
everything is strictly business. 

The treasurer makes his report — certain disbursements 
for equipment, and so many Scouts "paid up" at so much 
each. Good! My, isn't there a bunch going! 

Next, as purchasing agent and quartermaster, the secre- 
tary reports what the cost for transportation will be, and 
submits a grub list. Whereupon the Board of Directors of 
the troop immediately go into executive session and take 
the grub list with them. Anxious time for the Committee 
on Grub. 

When at last they return, and the Scout Master calls the 
troop to order, he says he is well satisfied with the reports 
from the various officers of the troop, everything is in fine 
shape, and he "guesses he will go along and help run the 
camp." 

Frantic cheering! Of course there was never any doubt 
that he would go, but he is a good bluffer when he wants the 
boys to do a thing themselves and learn all about it. 

No Soap! — "I have only one criticism," he says, when 
things quiet down. "And that is not exactly a criticism, 
but an inquiry. In looking over the list of grub which I 
have been asked by the Board of Directors to purchase, 
I do not find any mention of soap. I didn't like to say 
anything about it in the board meeting, because it would 



OFF TO CAMP , 67 

have been embarrassing to me if the omission is intentional. 
But I want to ask the troop if they don't think we ought 
to " 

More cheering, while a memorandum is scribbled on the 
grub hst. Funny how the Scout Master has to have his 
little joke! Or is it his way of giving the boys something 
to cheer about? Anyhow, they certainly like to yell. 

Before dismissing the troop, the Scout Master instructs 
them for the last time about the time and place of starting, 
and the essential things to bring. Everybody goes home 
walking on air — except, perhaps, the Scout Master, who 
has to buy all those groceries in the morning, and doubtless 
has forty- 'leven other things of his own to attend to. But 
you may depend upon it that he heaves a sigh of satisfac- 
tion when he thinks how thoroughly the boys have made 
their preparations and how Httle they have left for him to 
do. He is only buying the groceries because of his larger 
experience, and the fact that he wants to be the one to have 
the blame if everything is not all right. 

Buying the Grub. — As in the case of many Boy Scout 
troops going camping, it is advisable to ship most of the 
provisions from the home town or city. Express will be 
paid by the grocer, because of the size of the order. He 
may even give the troop a discount to help them along. 
But the Scout Master must be careful not to order too much 
of anything. Better run out of some things and have to get 
more from the best source of supply near camp. So, after 
carefully checking over the grub list with the menu, and 
taking into account the number going to camp, and the 
length of time they will be there, he rewrites the list in two 
parts, as follows: 



68 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

GRUB LIST, ETC. 

For thirty members eight days in camp 
Part I — First Order. 

40 lbs. bacon (4 sides). 

16 " ham (2 hams, smoked). 
12 cans salmon (i lb. cans). 

5 ^' crisco (small). 

6 lbs. butter (in 2 crocks). 

5 " peanut butter (in crock). 
15 " prepared flour. 

10 " yellow cornmeal. 

41 " rolled oats. 
20 " best rice. 

6 " macaroni. 
25 ^' pea beans. 
15 " prunes. 

10 " dried apricots. 

5 '' peaches. 

4 packages seeded raisins. 

45 lbs. granulated sugar. 

10 " coffee (ground, in can). 

2 " tea. 

3 " cocoa. 

2 small bags salt. 

36 cans soup (assorted). 

12 " evaporated milk. 

24 " corn. 

24 " baked beans. 

4 " tomatoes (i gallon cans). 
I J crates lemons (18 dozen). 

1 gallon maple syrup. 

2 cans molasses (quarts). 

5 lbs. orange marmalade (in tub). 
I bottle cider vinegar (quart). 



OFF TO CAMP 69 

3 bottles catsup. 

I " olive oil. 

J lb. dry mustard (in can). 

\ " nutmegs. 

\ " black pepper (in can). 

6 cans scouring powder. 

6 cakes borax soap. 

3 " hand soap. 

4 doz. coach candles. 

1 package matches. 
6 rolls toilet paper. 

Part II, — Biiy While at Camp, as Needed. 

3I bush, potatoes. 

3 pecks onions. 

6^ doz. loaves bread. 

8"' " eggs. 

9 lbs. butter. 

6 " cheese. 
36 '' fresh beef (chuck steak). 

8 " lamb (shoulder). 

8 " frankfurters. 
30 quarts fresh milk. 

8 doz. molasses cookies. 

4 cans chloride of hme. 

2 gal. kerosene. 

If Available 

Fish. 

Fresh fruit. 
Fresh vegetables. 

If you think that looks like a lot of provisions, you would 
be even more impressed if you were to be one of the advance 



70 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

detail that escort the first order to camp and stack it up in 
the commissary tent. 

Where the Money Goes. — The bill will make a big hole 
in the camp fund, too, and very likely set the Scout Master 
to figuring and worrying a little. He wants to feed the 
boys well, and knows there certainly is nothing elaborate or 
extravagant about this list; every bit of it is needed. Yet 
when he gets the prices and has everything figured out, he 
finds that he has arranged to spend more than the $90 that 
the thirty Scouts, himself and his assistant included, have 
set aside for grub. So he will, unless the cost of provisions 
is considerably lower than they were to our troop last 
summer. 

But you need not worry. That is one advantage of being 
a Scout instead of a Scout Master. Now that yoa know 
what the troop's rations consist of, you can ^' trust your life 
to it," or provide yourself with some pocket money for 
extras. There will be no pies, no puddings, no layer cakes 
or strawberry shortcakes, or ice-cream. 

While the Scout Master is busy with his commissary 
problems, and the troop quartermaster is getting his bags 
and boxes packed and ready, you are putting the last 
touches on your own preparations. You wish most heartily 
you had been chosen one of the advance detail, to go to 
camp a day ahead of the troop, but only four can go. Well, 
perhaps you are entitled to be one of them, the leader at 
that, and the right-hand man of your Scout Master. But 
for the purposes of this book, I am supposing you to be just 
an average Scout, not yet wearing a First-Class badge. 

Time to Get Nervous. — During the last few days there 
seems to be always at least a couple of Scouts at the Scout 



OFF TO CAMP 71 

Master's house. It is a common meeting place, anyhow. 
It is the news headquarters just now. ''The grub is gone" 
is the report at last. ''Scout Master and the baggage, too." 
"Why weren't you around to help load up? " "Have you 
got your pack ready?" "Bright and fair to-morrow, fel- 
lows, according to the weather report." "Let's go swim- 
ming." "Hey, how can you do that when your bathing 
suit is on the train?" "Where will we be this time to- 




"That Reminds Me" 

When the time to go draws near, you carry something like this perpetually in 

your mind's eye. 

morrow? " So much excitement that it gets on your nerves, 
and you go for a walk with your chum to pass the time. 

When you go to bed that night you have your Scout uni- 
form laid out for the morning, your blanket-roll strapped, 
and your pack-sack at last loaded to suit you. Another 
boy probably would lie awake half the night, too excited to 
sleep. As a boy I did it myself, over no more important 
an event than that I was going to help drive a carload of 
cattle to market. But you have had a good big walk, you 
are prepared in every way for your trip, and in spite of 
parental predictions to the contrary you are asleep in a 
jiffy. Scout training goes a long way. 



72 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

The Day of Days. — What was that? Bugle! Sure — 
Rossiter, next door, has beaten you out of bed. You jump 
out, snatch the screen out of the window, and stick out your 
head. ''Oh, you rooster!" and your chum is Rossiter no 
more, but Rooster. 

Your yesterday's calmness has forsaken you, and you can 
hardly eat your breakfast, you are in such a hurry. Plenty 
of time, too; but when you're going you want to ''git." 

Down at headquarters at last. Scouts coming in all 
directions. The Scout Master, who arrived back from 
camp at midnight, is across the street talking to a news- 
paper reporter. He has told some one that "the pioneers 
went fishing last night when he left camp." "No, there 
aren't any other Scouts camping at the Lake." "A dusty 
five-mile hike, he says." Everybody crowds around. 

At seven o'clock sharp, the Scout Master blows his whis- 
tle. "Fall in," is the order, and in a jiffy the troop is stand- 
ing at attention in double rank formation, every Scout in 
his place. The troop leader steps out, cHcks his heels to- 
gether, draws his book, and calls the roll in rapid-fire fash- 
ion. Then he faces about, salutes the Scout Master, and 
says, "Sir, the troop is formed. All who are going to camp 
are present!" There is another exchange of salutes, the 
troop leader takes his place in the rank of file closers. A 
sign from the Scout Master, and, "Rap-tap, rap-a-tap, 
b-r-r-r-r-r-rrrrip boom!" Away swings the fife, drum, and 
trumpet corps, numbering six. Two of them are in camp, 
two cannot go, and two are in the troop. A sharp com- 
mand and the troop follows in column of fours. Off at 
last! You feel like letting out a wild Indian whoop. 

New Scenes. — Two hours later you aHght from the train 



OFF TO CAMP 73 

in a strange town. And while the blanket-rolls and pack- 
sacks are being loaded on a wagon you run to buy picture 
post cards. At the post-office a group of the fellows are 
talking to a strange Scout not in uniform. Others are in 
the corner drug-store getting a last round of ice-cream sodas 
and stocking up on candy and chewing gum. 

Suddenly the hurry-up '' assembly" call rings out from a 
trumpet at the depot. Everybody runs. And in short 
order the troop is formed and is swinging away down the 
grade out of town, following the baggage wagon, on which 
rides the grinning bass drummer in charge of the drums. He 
alone may ride, because of his precious drum. 

"Gee," says the Scout next to you, in an undertone, *'I 
left nearly a w^hole soda. Just got one good gulp." ''Funny 
we aren't carrying our colours," interjects another. '' Funny 
nothing; you don't carry them on a hike." 

"Right by twos! " is the order. Then, "At ease, March." 
That means the Scout Master doesn't want any noise 
while you are on the streets of the town ; at the same time he 
isn't showing you off by making you keep step. 

A few blocks and you strike the bottom of a long hill. 
" Route step, March ! " And out bubbles the noise. "Oh, 
you mountain!" "Hey, keep off my heels." "Stop kick- 
ing up so much dust." " Can we see the lake when we get 
up the hill?" "Aw, what do you think! The lake's miles 
away. Do you think you're climbing Pike's Peak?" "Hey, 
Happy, did you bring your sunbonnet?" 

The Hike to Camp. — There is a short rest at the top of 
the hill; some get a drink at a nearby well. Then, a few 
blocks farther along, you suddenly find yourself walking 
in the dust of an unimproved country road. "String 



74 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

out," is the call. ^'Too much dust. Gee! its going to 
be some hike." 

It is indeed quite a tramp. By the time the Scout Mas- 
ter calls the last halt, there are some stragglers, despite the 
fact that he has repeatedly cautioned the guide to set a 
moderate pace and reprimanded several of the larger Scouts 
for crowding ahead out of their places, too eager to get to 
camp. And it is a hot day. 

On the march again. The Scout Master halts the 
troop, and opens a gate at the roadside. *'A-h-h-h!" 
"Whoopee!" '^ust over that knoll," "1 can smell the 
lake." He blows his whistle for attention. "Boys, do you 
see the tops of those spruce trees over there? The camp is 
just to the left of them, out in the field. You mustn't break 
ranks till I tell you to. It's too hot a day and you're in no 
shape to run uphill. Forward, March!" 

At the brow of the knoll, the camp is still hidden by an 
old apple orchard and an immense barn. But the lake 
spreads gloriously to view and there is a chorus of ohs and 
ahs. "Halt! Now, don't knock down any barbed- wire 
fences or upset the barn. And don't drink too much water 
when you get there. No penalty for not running, but a 
heavy fine for flying. You might scare a horse or a mowing 
machine or something. Now, go ! " 

What a race! Drab uniforms scurrying everywhere, 
helter-skelter. Through the orchard, over a fence, some to 
the left of the big barn, others to the right of it. A scatter 
of yells as the camp is sighted, a last, long, down-grade sprint 
across an open field — and then, amid much gasping for 
breath and rolling on the grass, the inevitable argument as 
to who was the first to reach camp. 



OFF TO CAMP 75 

The grinning pioneers have dinner well under way. The 
baggage is piled high in the middle of the camp ground. 
In the headquarters tent the Scout Master and his assis- 
tant are changing their uniforms. "What are we to do 
next? " some one asks. ''Beat it — take a look around," is 
the reply. And in almost no time at all the Scouts are 
scattering everywhere. 

Looking Things Over. — After an hour of unrestrained 
exploration, the boys begin to straggle back to camp. 
Some one declares he is going to get his mess-kit out of his 
pack. There is a concerted rush at the baggage, a wild 
scrimmage, and in short order a din of cups pounding plates, 
which in some unaccountable way drifts into a regular ca- 
dence, and soon an impromptu "war dance" is in full swing. 

Meantime the Scout Master has been in final consulta- 
tion with the pioneer cooks. Nobody sees him signal to 
Rooster, nobody sees the trumpet brought to the grin- 
ning lips, but there is no question about everybody hearing 
the first trumpet call in camp, or knowing what it means: 

"Soupy, soupy, soupy, without a single bean, 
Coffee, coffee, coffee, without a bit of cream, 
Porky, porky, porky, without a streak of lean." 

Could anything be more appropriate? Starting camp 
discipline with a call to mess will never fail of making a hit 
in a Boy Scouts' camp. There is a rush to get into Hne, 
a brief interval of plate, bowl, and cup filHng, a scattering 
to seats on the ground, and — that wagonload of groceries 
commences to furnish the "power" of the troop. The 
machinery of the camp is running at last, "on its own 
steam." 




KANGAROO COURT CONVENES 

The Cluck-Cluck Clan of a Florida troop initiate a new member of the 
troop, his particular "offence" being the wearing of pajamas. 

76 



CHAPTER VIII 

MAKING CAMP 

DINNER over, the Scouts all go to the lake to wash 
their dishes, then hurry back to be ready for the 
work of making camp. There is much to do. At 
one o'clock Rooster blows assembly, and the troop leader 
forms the troop. 

Quickly the Scout Master assigns the work. First, he 
says, the tents must be pitched. Then those who want to 
may change their uniforms. Assembly will be blown fifteen 
minutes after the tents are up, and all who wish to cut poles 
to build stretcher cots must so report at that time; there 
must be no folding cots set up, no poles cut nor ticks filled 
until the work is ordered. The tents and poles are all laid 
out in a row, and each tent leader will take the tent and 
stakes assigned to him, and the other three Scouts of his 
squad will each take a pole. Marking stakes show where 
the upright poles of each tent must go. ^'Twos forward, 
twos right, March! Right by file, March! Column left, 
March!" And the right guide of the troop, having taken 
his tent and a bag of stakes, leads the way around the big 
inner circle of marking stakes, the troop following, until 
there is a tent leader at each stake, and the command 
"Halt!" is given. ''Prepare to pitch tents," and there is a 
scurry to comply. 

11 



78 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

Pitching the Tents. — The tent leader, a patrol leader, 
assistant patrol leader, or ranking Scout of each tent, takes 
the ridge pole and lays it with each end touching a marking 
stake, adjusts the upright pole at right angles to it, and 
on the side opposite that from which the wind blows, then 
directs his tent-mate with the other pole to place it in a 
similar manner at the other end of the ridge pole. Next, 
with the assistance of all, he spreads the tent with the ridge 
on the ridge pole and the roof lying to right and left of it, 
just as a tent would fall if the upright poles were suddenly 
to vanish and allow it to collapse. He tosses tent pegs and 
guy-stakes to each of the four corners, then finds the door 
loops and drops them over the front marking stake, and 
directs his assistant. No. 2, to drop the centre loop in the 
rear wall over the stake at the other end. He now goes to 
the front right-hand corner of the tent, and directs No. 2 
to go to the rear corner on the same side, No. 3 to the front 
corner on the opposite side, and No. 4 to the remxaining cor- 
ner. ''Now, square her up," orders Nick, leader of your 
tent squad and patrol leader of the Simon Kentons. 
"Steady. Not so far back; get your line from the way 
she pulls on the stake. All square? Peg her down ! " Out 
come the Scout axes, and down it is. 

Team Work. — ''Now each take a corner guy-rope and 
a stake. Got 'em? Now step backward two paces in line 
with the end of the tent. Right. Now one pace to the 
front for us at this end, and a pace to the rear for you two at 
the back. Right. Gouge a mark with your heel where you 
stand. Now listen: Drive your stakes for the guy-ropes 
on a slant, with the top leaning at an angle of about forty 
degrees from perpendicular and of course in the direction 



MAKING CAMP 79 

opposite to the guy-rope. Hammer 'em in. Don't foozle 
it now, or we'll be behind." 

The corner guy-stakes driven, the guy-ropes are dropped 
over them and loosely adjusted. The tent leader orders the 
guy-ropes and corner loops on the lee side taken off the 
stakes and pegs, and slips the door loops off the front mark- 
ing stake. Next he raises the ridge pole, upright and tent 
at the front to his hips, while No. 2 does the same at the 
rear; both adjust the upright pins in the grommet holes on 
the tent ridge. Nos. 3 and 4 stand at the front of the tent 
ready to enter and raise the uprights. "Watch out now, 
the others are nearly ready. Aw, some of them are still 
driving stakes. All done now — watch out ! " 

''Duck in the tent now, you two fellows," says Nick. 
''Got your poles now? All ready. Steady now, wait for 
the whistle." 

"Up with her!" And simultaneously with the blast of 
the Scout Master's whistle eight tents rise as one, the Scout 
Master and his Assistant erecting the hospital tent. 

While Nos. 3 and 4 support the uprights of his tent, each 
tent leader and his assistant, No. 2, now drop the lee corner 
guy-ropes over their stakes and partly tighten them, secure 
the lee corner loops of the tent, then go around and take up 
the slack of the corner guy-ropes on the weather or wind- 
ward side. Nos. 3 and 4 are now called out, and with a 
Scout at each corner the four guy-ropes are adjusted so the 
tent stands properly. With two Scouts on each side, the 
remaining stakes and pegs are driven and the tent is soon 
completely guyed and pegged. Then the scramble to get 
into shorts and gym shirts. 

Dressed for the Fray. — When you emerge, glad of the 



8o THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

change to cooler garb, you feel so good you fall to admiring 
the camp. Consternation! The Scout Master has left 
too much space where the mess-tent is going to be, and on 
both sides of his tent, directly opposite; the circle of tents 
will not be complete. You mention it to the quartermaster, 
who squelches you by inquiring how you expect any one 
could get into or out of the camp if no passageways were 
left. To console yourself, you immediately go on a hunt 
for some other greeny, with the intent of trapping him into 
making a similar blunder. But assembly stops you and 
sends you flying to your place in ranks. 

*' There is a lot more work to do, boys," says the Scout 
Master. ''Those who have folding cots hold up hands." 
Up go eight hands. "All right, hands down. You, John," 
to one of the pioneers, ''are on cook duty. Don't forget to 
report for it at four o'clock. In the meantime, I want you 
eight fellows who have folding cots to put up the mess- 
tent. Mr. Tilton will direct the work. 

"Now, how many have ticks? Hands up. Good. 
Hands down. I'll take the three largest of you to help me 
dig the latrine trench and put up the tent. The remaining 
seven will cut wood for the fire and start work on the tables 
and benches for the mess-tent. But keep away from the 
mess-tent till it is up. Get your boards, cut them to even 
lengths, cleat them together, and cut and sharpen the 
stakes. There is a pile of old fence rails down by the ice- 
house we can have for the stakes. You will be in charge 
of the quartermaster, who will designate the two who are 
to cut the firewood. You may fill your ticks when recall 
is blown; straw in the barn. 

"The rest of you, who have stretcher beds to make, will 



MAKING CAMP 8i 

be in charge of the troop leader. Cut no poles without his 
permission. He will chop a kerf in the sapHngs he selects. 

"Pioneers, do not forget to start supper preparations at 
four o'clock; better start the fire at 3.45. Mess call at six 
o'clock. ^^ 

"Fall out!" 

Making a Bed. — You consider yourself fortunate in 
having to build a stretcher bed. But before you get it 
half completed you are not so enthusiastic. In the first 
place, the troop leader, ''Sirdar" Sisson, insists upon what 
seems to you to be unnecessary pains in making it strong 
enough. And he makes you roll your stretcher around the 
poles before you nail them, so it will not sag — says you 
should have known better than to bring a 30-inch stretcher, 
26 inches being all he will allow. " Suppose everybody had 
a 30-inch bed, where would you stand up in the tent? " Last 
of all, he tells you to stake forked sticks at the middle, 
something like the legs of a sawbuck, to hold the side poles 
so they will not sag. Just as if a little sag is going to hurt ! 
Who's got to sleep on that bed, anyhow? Before you get 
through with your troubles, recall has been sounded and 
"Pud" and "Tilly," the two fellows in your tent who have 
ticks, come bundling in with them and get in your way. 
But you stick doggedly at your task, and at last unroll your 
blankets and make up your bed, feeling just a little home- 
sick. 

Then in comes Nick with his folding cot, fresh from his 
labours with pick and shovel at the latrine. "Gee!" he 
exclaims, dropping his bundle. "Say, you've got some bed 
there, Bunkie. Why didn't you tell me you were a car- 
penter? I'd have saved the price of this collapsible con- 



82 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



traption of mine and got you to show me how to make a 
real Scout's bed." 

Homesick? Huh! You swell out yout chest. ''I had 
an argument with the Sirdar about it; he said I was rushing 
it too much." 

"Rushing it! Say, I'll bet it takes the prize for the best 
stretcher bed in camp. It's as good as Sirdar himself can 
make. You want to get wise to the Sirdar's Httle peculiar- 
ities. He's a good friend to you." 





A Good Way to Make a Stretcher Cot 

Quick Work. — Out you go for a look around. Roos- 
ter, all animation, as usual, nearly runs you down. "Say, 
this bunch certainly have worked this afternoon," he ex- 
claims. "Go look in the mess tent. All the tables and 
benches finished. They borrowed a crosscut saw up at the 
house and cut the rails and boards by the wholesale. 
They're putting the oilcloth on the table now. I've been 
helping dig the latrine trench. Got to stick up my cot now 
and get washed." And he is off. 

A round of the tents reveals that you really have a good 
stretcher bed, thanks to the Sirdar's bossing. Everybody 
is bustling to get things in shape for the night. You inspect 
the mess-tent, which is fine, and in natural sequence 
gravitate to the fire to the rear of it, where the pioneers are 
busy. "Beat it!" is the greeting you receive. "Nobody 




MAKING CAMP 83 

allowed here except those on cooking duty. Scout Mas- 
ter's orders." 

Well, you've had a smell of supper, anyway. That re- 
minds you of your mess-kit, which you put back in your 
pack after dinner. You start after it, and encounter 
Pudley, who has cut his hand and is heading for your tent. 
You go along with him and get out his first-aid kit. " Gee- 
whitaker!" he exclaims as the iodine "takes hold," and 
dances on one leg a while, then pirouettes on the other. 
*' All right, Jim, wrap her up. Doesn't hurt any more." 

Together you go to the 
lake and wash, and by the 
time you return, the 
quartermaster is looking 
for the Scout Master. 

,._« 1TI • • J 5 J Inelegant, but Better than the Ground 

i ell him supper IS ready, The "springs" are made of heavy twine 

you hear him direct one of 

his pioneers, and you dash into camp for your mess-kit. 
But others are ahead of you, and already plates and bowls 
are being whacked together, in time with the latest chant, 
"Yip, yip, the elephant bit his Hp." 

"Cafeteria Style." — The Scout Master steps out of his 
tent, followed by Rooster, trumpet in hand. The Scout 
Master holds up his hand for silence. "Hats off at sup- 
per," he says. And while the Scouts are diving into their 
tents with their hats, the "gladsome notes" of the mess-call 
ring out. There is a rush to get into line — not the first- 
come, first- served crowding line of noon, but regular troop 
formation — and in a jiffy the troop file down to the rear 
of the mess-tent and halt at the serving bench, where the 
cooks have placed a row of steaming kettles. The Scout 



84 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



Master takes charge of the first, his Assistant the next, and 
the troop officers the others in order of rank. '' 'Cafeteria 
style,' boys," says the Scout Master. ''Take a tray off 
the pile on the end of the bench here, put your knife, fork, 
spoon, cup and bowl on it, hold the tray in one hand and 
your plate in the other and pass by and be served. Find 
seats at the tables to suit yourselves to-night; your places 
will be marked to-morrow. All right, Nick, come on ! " 
"Say, this beats sitting on the ground." "Hey, leave a 



cA^fvAs 

75yds. 28/ilnch *o 
lOoOZ.ArmyKh&Hi -^ 
M&deup22/ax22'A 
Ft. Dimensions 




TABLED 
Each 12 '/z Ft. 
\o(\%. Seating 
10 Co each table 
comfort abl_y 



TABUE 



BENCH 



19 



Arrangement of Tables Under the Big Fly that Serves for the Mess Tent 



place for the officers at that table — leave the whole side 
for them." ''This table isn't level." "Aw, what do you 
expect? You ought to be glad you have a table to eat 
from. You didn't do anything but build your bed." "I 
did so. I carried water for the cooks." "Please pass the 
salt." "Say, this is some cooking, for Scouts." And so on, 
with a noticeable increase in good nature as plates, bowls and 
cups are emptied. 
Candle-Lighting Time. — After supper and the subse- * 



MAKING CAMP 85 

quent dish-washing, each Scout going to the lake with his 
own utensils, most of the boys turn their attention to get- 
ting their beds ready. Candles are supplied by the quarter- 
master. A few carbide lanterns appear. The Scout Mas- 
ter is in his tent and his Assistant has gone across the lake to 
see about milk and eggs. There will be no camp-fire, every- 
body is tired out. Rooster, dropping in, ventures the re- 
mark that he doesn't think half the fellows will hear taps, 
at 9.15 o'clock. He bemoans the fact that he must get up 
at 5.45 in the morning to call the cooks. 

"At 5.45!"^ 

*'Sure. First call at 6.00, reveille at 6.15, assembly at 
6.20, mess at 7.15. It's all up on the bulletin board at 
headquarters." 

"Well, it can stay there till to-morrow. I'm tired. 
Going to turn in." 

Kangaroo Court. — A wild yell from across the circle of 
tents: ''Kangaroo! Kangaroo!" Out pile the Scouts, 
pellmell, and behold a suit of pink pajamas borne aloft on a 
Scout staff. ''Sheriff, Sheriff!" yells Sheik Wilton, waving 
the trophy on high. 

"All right, Sheik," answers Teddy Sahib Gregg, his 
usual partner in matters of this kind. "Here I am. Give 
me those pajams. Where's the guilty party?" 

"Here he is, Sahib, in my tent," answers the Sheik. 
"Gailey's the one. Bad enough for a Scout to bring pa- 
jamas to camp, but for a Tenderfoot to bring pink ones!'* 

"Where's Pickles?" "Come on Pickles, get on your 
job — you're executioner, aren't you? Well, get the em- 
blem of your office." "Oh, Judge! Where's Judge 
Woodbury? Oh, there you are." "Come on, gentlemen. 



86 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

Bring your prisoner, Sheriff. Over here in the grove.'' 
And away go the whole troop, with the exception of the 
chuckKng Scout Master. 

This being your first encampment with the Scouts, you 
have never seen the Kangaroo Court in session, and your 
wonder is almost as great as that of the bewildered Gailey. 
As the Judge opens his court, sympathy for the prisoner, 
amusement, and amazement swiftly alternate in the control 
of your thoughts. 

"Gentlemen, sit down," orders the Judge. "Hats off. 
I'm the only one who wears a hat in this court, and it is my 
badge of office. Now, what are we here for? " 

Tomfoolery, or What? — The Sheik rises, bows low, and, 
looking very grave, addresses the Court at length, stating 
the fact of the discovery of the prisoner with a suit of pink 
pajamas. 

"All right, sit down" says the Judge. "Prisoner, stand 
up!" And as Gailey complies, "You have heard the 
charge against you. Have you a lawyer to defend you?" 

"No, sir," gasps poor Gailey. 

"All right. Sirdar " 

"Your honour, I object, I protest," yells the Sheik, 
jumping up. "As Prosecuting Attorney I object to the 
Sirdar serving as counsel for the defence. He's too fond of 
ice-cream soda and the prisoner would go broke squaring 
himself." 

"Objection overruled," responds the Judge. "He doesn't 
get any fee unless he wins the case, and that is impossible." 

"I don't think a lawyer could do much good," says Gailey, 
hesitatingly. "You've got the pajamas and " 

"Your honour, he not only had those pajamas, but he 



MAKING CAMP 87 

was going to put them on!" shouts the Sheik. "Right in 
front of me, too." 

''Is that right, Gailey?" 

"Yes, sir. I didn't know it was against the rules." 

" You didn't! What has that got to do with it? Ignor- 
ance of the law does not excuse you. Sir, you are guilty! 
Guilty, do you hear me? For one thing, you are guilty of 
living in the same tent with the Prosecuting Attorney; 
which, if it is not a crime, certainly is not a compHment — • 
to you. You also are guilty of causing this Court to con- 
vene when there is nothing to convene about. I warn you, 
sir, and especially the Prosecuting Attorney, also every one 
here, that this Court will not sit again in this camp to pass 
judgment on any such trivial matter. If you, Gailey, had 
been accused of carrying tales, or bullying, shirking your 
share of camp duties, or of boasting, or telling Hes, or using 
profanity when the Scout Master was not around, or had 
done something else requiring the attention of this Court, 
you would get it, good and plenty. 

"I sentence you to wear your pink pajamas inside out 
to-night, and to count the wearers of pajamas in the pa- 
jama parade to-morrow night, as penalty for having been 
made a yap of by a tent-mate who may be an Arab, despite 
his yellow curls and baby blue eyes, but whom this Court 
never has believed to be entitled to be called a sheik, but 
rather has considered more of a sham. Court's adjourned." 

The First Mystery. — In bed, a half hour later, you are 
still wondering about it all. The strange part of it, to you, 
is that Sheik and Judge are chums. The case of Gailey 
was clearly thrown out of Court, and the Judge's warning 
must have been for the purpose of impressing the Scouts 



88 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

that the Kangaroo Court is not organized for tomfoolery, 
but has a serious purpose. It is very mysterious; must 
have been framed up on purpose by the whole bunch, except 
Gailey. You are curious as to how the different officers 
get their appointments. And still wondering, you fall 
asleep. 

At nine o'clock, Rooster, clad in his pajamas, steps out 
of the headquarters tent and, taking his cue from the ab- 
sence of Hghts or talking in any of the tents, blows taps 
just as softly as he can : 

''Sleep, and rest; 
Sweetly rest; 
Dreamless, rest 

Thro' the dark hours of night; 
And may God keep you safe 
Till the Hght." 



CHAPTER IX 

CAMP DISCIPLINE 

UMPH!" You sit up in bed with a jerk, and blink 
your eyes. 
^'What's the matter? " growls Nick. ''Think 
you was doing a high dive?" 

You grin your explanations. ''Where are Pud and 
Tilly?" 

"Out somewhere. How'd you sleep?" 

"Didn't sleep at all. Or, rather, I can't remember that I 
did. Woke up when those Indians commenced cheering 
out on the lake " 

"What Indians?" 

"How should I know. Weren't you awake? A bunch 
from up the lake, I guess. Came down here about mid- 
night, I suppose it was, cheering for the Boy Scouts. They 
didn't get a peep out of this camp. Pud and Tilly hadn't 
been to sleep — couldn't get to sleep, they said. Didn't 
you hear them grumbling?" 

The Old Story. — "First night in camp," explains Nick. 
"I guess quite a lot of the fellows didn't sleep much. I 
woke up at four o'clock and I heard talking then. Scout 
Master popped out and shut them up. Pud and Tilly 
were up and dressed, and he told them to hike out some- 
where and not disturb the camp." 

89 



go TEE BOTS CAMP BOOK 

^'Bet they don't do it to-morrow." 

''Well, I guess not. They'll sleep. It's all in getting used 
to it. Anyhow, discipline starts to-day. Nobody will be 
allowed to get up before first call. Must be about time 
There goes first call." 

" Gee, Rooster must have had his sleep," Nick continues 
as the call comes to its end with a flourish. ''Plenty of 
ginger in that call. You don't have to turn out yet. First 




Reveille Roll Call 
Not many Scouts in this troop 

call is just the waking call. The next is reveille, in fifteen 
minutes, five minutes before assembly. That gives us 
plenty of time, because we don't wash till after roll call and 
setting-up drill. It's fun to wait till reveille and then jump 
into your shorts and shoes." 

But the whole camp is astir. And before you are dressed 
your early rising tent-mates return, overflowing with tales 
of discovery. Pud has caught three leeches, which he has 
in his soap box, and vows he will not go swimming in that 
lake. Tilly knows where there are just loads of meadow 
frogs, and predicts that Fred, his big brother, will keep the 
camp supplied with fish. 



CAMP DISCIPLINE 



91 



*'If he gets time to fish," interposes Nick. ''Just keep 
your eye on him and see how much time he has. Every 
time he wants to go fishing, he will have to be watching some 
of you kids in swimming to keep you from being carried off 
by the leeches. A Boy Scout camp isn't any vacation for 
the men." 

''There goes reveille." "Let me out of this tent!" 
"Hey, take your menagerie with you, Pudley!" "Is the 
grass wet?" "Is it? My feet are soaked." "Well, why 
didn't you put on your rubbers, you dummy? " 

The Day's Routine. — In almost no time at all, it seems 
to you, assembly is blown, and the troop is formed, with its 
right toward headquarters, and its left toward the mess- 
tent. The troop leader calls the roll, and then reads the 
Order of the Day: 



First call 

Reveille . 

Assembly 

Mess . . 

Fatigue . 

Assembly 

Officers' call 

Inspection 

Assembly 

Recall 

Mess 



o'clock 
6.00 
6. IS 

6.20 

7-15 
8.15 
8.30 

8.45 
9.00 

12.00 
12.30 



Assembly . 
Recall . . 
Swimming cal 
Recall . . 
Mess . 
First call 
Assembly . 
Retreat 
Tattoo . 
Taps 



o'clock 
2.00 

3.45 
4.00 
5.00 
6.00 

6.45 
7.00 

7-05 
9.00 

9.15 



He explains the meaning of the various calls, and says 
that hereafter they will not be read, but will be posted each 
day at headquarters. "Are there any questions? " he asks. 

"When can we go fishing?" inquires a voice. 



92 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

Days Off. — ''Every Scout will have at least one whole 
day to go fishing if he wants to. That will be the day fol- 
lowing that on which he is on cooking duty." 

"Can't we go any other time? " It is Gailey who asks. 

"You'll have to ask the Scout Master." 

Mr. Tilton now appears, and the troop is turned over to 
him. He soon has you all thoroughly warmed up with a 
snappy setting-up drill, and you are dismissed to make your 
toilets. The morning plunge is not compulsory, but some 
of you take it, while others shiver to see you. It's fine and 
sets you all a-tingle, after which a good rub with your big 
bath towel leaves you feeHng great. 

This being the first time you have been at an organized 
camp, you are somewhat mystified by the amount of dis- 
cipline, as outlined by the Order of the Day. You do not 
understand what fatigue duty means, and are ashamed to 
confess it. You are even more confused to hear it referred 
to as police duty. But finally, when you fall in with the 
troop after breakfast, in answer to the call, you find it is to 
clean up the camp. 

The First Clean-Up. — The Scout Master marches the 
troop out of the campus in column of fours, throws it into 
twos, and then into a file. "Halt! Left, Face!" And a 
long rank of Scouts face the camp. "Pick up all litter, of 
whatever description; sticks, chips, everything. Forward, 
open order, March!" And when the troop halts at the 
edge of the grove, on the other side of the camp, the Scouts 
have collected a couple of bushels of rubbish, and the camp 
is clean as a whistle. A pioneer is directed to burn the 
litter, and the troop is dismissed with the warning that 
assembly will be sounded almost immediately. 



CAMP DISCIPLINE 93 

*' What on earth are we going to fall in all over again for? " 
you ask one of the fellows. 

''Routine, son. Wait till you've been here a few days, 
and you'll see how everything is systematized. Every- 
body on the job, under orders, and nothing gets neglected. 
There goes assembly. Come on, sprint or we'll get a call- 
ing down for being slow." 

''Troop, attention 1 Eyes, Right. Front !" and the troop 
leader takes his place. 

The Scout Master, with a bit of a smile, commands the 
troop to stand at Rest. "Boys, "says he, "before we do any- 
thing else, I want you to elect some one Scout for the honour 
of selecting the tree for the flag-pole, cutting it down, 
superintending its erection in camp, and raising the flags." 

Pandemonium! After a Httle, it being evident that a 
decision can be made, the Scout Master blows his whistle 
for attention. "Nominations are in order." 

"Judge Woodbury." "Woodbury." "Lynn Wood- 
bury." And in short order Woodbury has it. Then his 
two assistants are chosen, and they, like he, are necessarily 
First-Class Scouts. These three name nine other Scouts 
to help them. 

"All right," says the Scout Master. "When the troop 
is dismissed, Woodbury, hunt up your tree. The ceremony 
will follow the next assembly, as some of your helpers are 
down for the next trick at the cook- tent. 

"Now, then, the pioneers have finished their work. The 
detail to succeed them as cooks, wood gatherers, water 
carriers, and Handy Scout are as follows": And he reads 
off seven names, in alphabetical order. He explains that 
these Scouts will be on duty until relieved the next day at 



94 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

this time, by another detail, after which they will be ex- 
cused from any duty and not be required to answer any 
calls for the rest of the day. 

Any Questions? — The Scout Master asks if there are any 
questions or complaints, and explains that at this time each 
day he will answer questions, receive requests and straighten 
out any difficulties. 

^'When can we go fishing?" asks Gailey, in a tone that 
makes you wish he had been well hazed last night. 

*'Day after to-morrow, Gailey," answers the Scout Mas- 
ter. ''You will be on cook duty to-morrow. I'm glad 
you spoke of it," he continues, gravely. ''I've noticed you 
seem rather strongly inclined to shirk your work. You 
no doubt have a mistaken idea of what discipline means. 
It means cooperation, more than anything else, and that is 
what we are here for, largely. I want to impress upon you 
new boys that the Order of the Day, as posted each day at 
headquarters, is the law of the camp. Those who want to 
get away and do something different from the program will 
have to do so on their days off, of which each Scout who be- 
haves will have two. 

"Our activities are not going to be such that anybody can 
get special privileges. If we have signal practice, every- 
body except those off grub duty will take part in it. If we 
have a field meet, the same rule applies. No Scout will be 
excused from the discipline of the camp, unless sick. The 
roll may be called at any assembly on the Order of the Day, 
or at an assembly ordered at any other time, perhaps even 
after taps at night. And any Scout absent without leave will 
get double duty cutting wood, carrying water, and policing 
camp, or such other punishment as I see fit to prescribe. 



CAMP DISCIPLINE 95 

''Understand this, now, boys, and remember that you 
are here as members of a Boy Scout troop, and subject 
to the discipline of the troop all the time, day and night, 
till you are dismissed when we get back home. Obey 
orders, forget yourself, and work and play for the 
troop, as an integral part of it, and I promise you a good 
time." 

The Scout Master has a quick eye for grumblers, all right. 
Good for him. Your sentiments exactly. Suppose every 
fellow had his own ideas about what he wanted to do and 
there were no disciphne, what a lovely muddle there would 
be. You are for a clean camp every way. 

For a Clean Camp. — The Scout Master instructs the 
troop about rolling up the tent walls, airing blankets, and 
guarding against unsanitary conditions. He has seen bread 
crusts and scraps of meat on the ground in the mess-tent, 
and about it. He will not tolerate any uncleanliness, of 
course, and does not expect to have to say anything more 
about the matter, because every Scout has taken the Scout 
oath to obey the Scout Law. "And being clean also 
means being neat. So spruce up your tents now — in- 
spection at 9 o'clock. Those on cook duty will remain 
in ranks, in charge of Mr. Tilton. Fall out!" 

''Some lecture," says Nick, as you enter your tent. 
'' Gee ! roll call after taps ! Did you hear that? No sneak- 
ing out for a moonlight row. Scout Master means it, too. 
No funny business in this troop." 

"Oh, Gailey will get his, all right, before we go home,'' 
predicts Pud. "He's got a mean way of looking at the 
Scout Master, and he takes all the time he dares when he is 
told to do anything. You just wait!" 



96 THE BOTS CAMP BOOK 

"There's officers' call, Nick. Get a wiggle. We'll finish 
cleaning up." 

Ready for Inspection. — Pud and Tilly and you turn to 
with a will, and soon have the tent in apple-pie order. Pud 
has suspended a long stick laterally, from the ridge-pole, 
with a couple of straps, and on this you hang your towels 
and pack-sacks. The latter hang just high enough so you 
can see into them without taking them down. Your uni- 
forms hang on a couple of wire clothes hangers clamped on 
the upright at the back of the tent. Extra shoes, sneaks, 
rubbers, and axes are on a couple of boards, under your bed 
and Nick's. Pud and Tilly have piled their ticks, one on 
the other, in the back of the tent, and there is plenty of 
room. And when the officers come around on their tour of 
inspection, you jump up and stand at attention in front of 
the tent, as Nick has told you to. The Scout Master goes 
into the tent, looks around, and steps out in a jifty. " Good 
work, boys," he says, and makes an entry in his book. 

But it soon is a different story. When they come to 
Sheik's tent, across the circle, you hear a sharp command, 
and Gailey emerges sulkily from the tent, to get a verbal 
dressing down about something. You do not hear what it 
is about until after inspection, when Nick returns. 

Double Duty. — "Why, he was sitting on his bed peeling 
an orange, and throwing the peel on the ground in the tent. 
And he didn't even have the decency to look up when the 
Scout Master stopped in front of the tent. He's got to chop 
wood to-day as well as to-morrow, with only one day off 
afterward. I'll bet he gets some ginger in him and acts 
respectfully from now on. The Scout Master put it right 
up to him. He had his choice to say he would comply with 



CAMP DISCIPLINE 97 

the discipline of the camp and give no further trouble, or go 
home on the noon train. He toed the mark, you bet. I 
suppose he thought he was too big to be bossed around. 
Fine chance Sheik has to win the inspection honour any 
day for the neatest tent." 

^'That's always the way," says Pud. ''Good thing it 
happened, though. It may teach one or two others a les- 
son. There won't be many asking for privileges. Gee! 
I'm glad to be in on the program; that's all I want." 

''There goes assembly." 

The pioneers, having been relieved from duty, are all 
going fishing. But they, and also the detail on grub duty, 
fall in with the troop for the flag-pole ceremony. 

"Boys, the work of the camp is well in hand," says the 
Scout Master. "And you passed inspection in fine style. 
I have made some suggestions to some of the tent leaders, 
and Mr. Tilton will do a few odd jobs around the cook-tent 
with the Handy Scout during the day. Aside from that, we 
can take up our Scouting activities and our sports and fun. 
I'm glad we are to begin this as we are, with a new cere- 
mony, which is both interesting and appropriate. This 
ceremony will be conducted throughout by the Scout 
elected by you this morning, who with his assistants was 
among those who studied it before coming to camp. After 
the ceremony, boys, Mr. Tilton will have you pile up the 
brush you made in cutting poles. After that, those not on 
duty are excused, to scout around camp, but must all be 
on hand at dinner. No swimming nor boating. I will 
conduct some First-Class examinations in the grove. All 
right, Woodbury; you may take charge." 

The Flag-Pole Peg. — Stepping out of ranks to the rear, 



98 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

Woodbury comes around in front and takes his position. 
In his hand he carries a brand-new Scout axe in its sheath. 
''Scouts," says he, *'a hickory peg is driven deep in the 
ground marking the place in the exact centre of the circle 
where the hole for the flag-pole is to be dug. While you 
are hunting it I will go to the flag-pole tree, which no one 
knows but I. The Scout who finds the peg, which no one 
saw planted, since it was done by the Scout Master when he 
chose the camp-site, has the honour of digging the hole. 
And he may keep the peg as a souvenir. It was made of a 
piece of the wood of the same kind of cherry tree that 
George Washington cut down by mistake for a hickory tree 
before he learned scouting. When I reach the tree I will 
blow my whistle. The first Scout to the tree gets the 
privilege of helping to chop it down. Fall out!" 

What a scramble! And who should find the precious 
peg but the disgraced Gailey! "Well, manual labour is in 
my line to-day," says he, with a surprisingly cheerful grin. 
"Where shall I look for the shovel?" But just then 
Woodbury's whistle is heard, away off in the woods along 
the lake shore. 

The Flag-Tree Race. — Such a chase! Where the dick- 
ens is the Judge, anyhow? Everybody is running on guess- 
work. One of the last to get away, you come flying up 
where the leaders have halted, just as he is spied, fifty 
yards ahead, peeping out from behind his tree, and your 
momentum carries you into the lead, the other fellows 
having to make a fresh start. But some one gets going in 
mighty quick time, and how he does make you run! With 
your last jump you make a regular football dive for the tree, 
and — slam ! 



CAMP DISCIPLINE 99 

*'It's a wonder you didn't break your collar bone," says 
Judge, when the world stops spinning around. **It^s your 
chop. You certainly earned it." 

*'Who was next?" you ask, when at last you get your 
breath. ^'1 was, you chump," and Rooster holds out his 
hand . ' ' You didn ' t need to do that dive to beat me . " 
''Didn't I, though! Where did you get your speed? " 
"It isn't speed, its wind. Blowing a trumpet does it." 
Honours to the Flag-Tree. — ' ' All right. Form the Scout 
circle, fellows," says the Judge. "Honours to this little 
ironwood tree, boys. Attention! Hats off!" Stepping 
back, he faces the north, makes the Scout sign, faces about, 
looks up to the tree's top, and addresses it: 

"E're loth we lay thee low, good tree. 
Know that thy death doth honour thee; 
Thy life thou givest to glorify 
The land for which we too would die. 
Proud be thy lot, that thou shalt be 
The standard, straight, of Liberty; 
Glad be thy fall, that thou may rise, 
To fling Old Glory to the skies." 

Taking the new axe from its sheath, he next chops with 
three clean blows, a deep kerf on the north side of the tree. 
Then, again facing the north and giving the Scout sign, he 
says, "To remind every Scout to do his best to do his duty 
to God and his country, and to obey the Scout law." 

The Sirdar now steps forward, and with three light blows 
chops a shallow kerf on the northeast side of the tree. "To 
remind every Scout to help other people at all times," he says. 

The Sheik is next, and chops his kerf on the northwest 



loo THE BOTS CAMP BOOK 

side. ''To remind every Scout to keep himself physically 
strong, mentally awake, and morally straight." 

He hands the axe to the Judge, who now calls you out, 
directs you to finish chopping down the tree, and orders 
the circle of Scouts to break away from the north side, to 
which he says the tree must fall, in compliance with the 
ceremony. 

Felling the Tree. — Taking your cue from this, you chop 
the north kerf deeper, until you notice the tree begins to 
incline shghtly in that direction. Then, standing on the 
west, with a few quick blows you chop out a kerf a little 
higher up on the south side, and jump back as the tree falls 
amidst a burst of applause. 

The Judge and his two assistants quickly lop off the 
limbs, then tackle the more tedious job of peeHng off the 
bark. No one else may touch the tree, but three are dele- 
gated to cut each a long forked pole to use in erecting the 
flag-pole. Everything goes by threes, according to Boy 
Scout usage. 

When at last the long pole is clean and bright, the other 
nine assistants are called. With six Scouts on each side, 
representing the twelve sections of the Scout law, it is 
carried on cross sticks out to the camp. There the twelve 
Scouts soon have it securely planted, with a gilded ball 
fastened on top, and the halyard suspended from a galvan- 
ized pulley on a screw-eye screwed horizontally into the 
pole a couple of inches below the top. 

Woodbury now orders the Scouts to put on their hats 
and coats, button the latter, and form a circle, no Scout to 
be nearer the flag-pole than the line of stakes holding the 
front corners of the tents. To make sure the ring is perfect, 



CAMP DISCIPLINE loi 

he takes a clothes-line, loops one end around the flag-pole, 
and using the rope to describe an arc makes the circuit, 
placing patrol leaders and their assistants at intervals with 
instructions to make sure no one crowds forward. 

The Flag Race. — "Now at the command 'Go!' remove 
hat, coat, and shoes, as for life saving, leave all of them 
behind the starting line, and run to the flag-pole. The 
first one to reach it will have the honour of hoisting the flags, 
providing it is found his hat, coat, and shoes are behind 
the starting line. Those wearing high shoes may unlace 
them and tie them six holes from the bottom, the same as 
sneaks. All shoes must be tied, and all coats fully but- 
toned, on honour. I and my two assistants will judge the 
race from the edge of the circle, each at a different point. In 
case of a close finish you are on honour to say who is the win- 
ner. If there is a tie, it will be run over. Are you ready? 
' ' All right, remember your instructions. Ready, Set, Go ! " 
This time you are not in the running at all — too slow get- 
ting away. But you manage to get into the melee around 
the flag-pole in time to help hoist the winner on to the 
shoulders of his patrol mates, and to join in giving their yell : 

"Coon up a tree. 
Coon up a tree, 

Don't shoot, he'll come down; 
Davy Crockets, 
Davy Crockets, 
The Scouts that own the town." 

Raising the Flags. — Again the Scout circle is formed, and 
the Judge ties Old Glory on the halyard, then below it the 
troop flag. Each is ingeniously rolled in a ball, so a sharp 



I02 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

jerk on the halyard at the proper time will break them both 
out. The halyard is given to the lucky Wheeler. Sheik, 
the singing leader of the troop, steps out and takes his 
place beside him. A signal from the Judge, and the two 
queer Httle bundles of bunting go jiggling up the tall pole. 
The Sheik raises his hand above his head. Another signal 
from the Judge, a jerk by Wheeler, and the flags are broken 
out magnificently on the morning breeze. Simultaneously, 
Sheik's arm swings down, every Scout's hat comes off and 
is held over his left breast in the military salute, while 
*'The Star Spangled Banner" bursts forth with the full 
volume of thirty loyal and lusty voices. 

*' Wasn't that a rouser, though? " says Nick, as the Scouts 
disperse. ''Some ceremony. After this the flags will be 
raised at reveille. Come on, now, and get in on the brush 
piling." 

*'Now then," says Mr. Til ton, fifteen minutes later, ^'to 
the grove, all who are going to try for a First- Class badge." 
And away you go to the grove, where with other candidates 
you keep the Scout Master busy till recall is blown. Then 
you make a trip to the big barn, to find out its value as a 
signal station. 

Signal Practice. — After dinner comes signal practice by 
the whole troop, in four divisions, two on each side of the 
lake. Right hard it is, too, the distance being so great it 
is very difficult to read the signals. Now the Myer code 
shows its advantage for flag signalling; there is no mistaking 
the big left and right sweeps of the flag, even if it is a mile 
away. The fellows who try Morse do not get on so well, 
and semaphore is out of the running. But the patrol 
leaders, who have abandoned all these codes for the new 



CAMP DISCIPLINE 103 

International Morse, demonstrate its all around superi- 
ority. 

It is great fun signalling at such a long range — in fact 
you never before imagined it could be such fun. The big 
rolling hills on each side of the lake provide excellent sta- 
tions, and before recall is blown messages are travelling 
around the lake much faster, no doubt, than they ever 
have travelled before, unless it was in the old Indian days. 

Swimming Time. — Back to camp at a little before four 
o'clock. Then the big swim ! Such a circus ! Such swim- 
ming, too. Everybody is in a bathing suit. The cooks 
have supper started, and take turns tending it. Gailey, so 
sour before inspection in the morning, is now having the 
time of his life. And the Three Wise Men of the East, 
Sirdar, Sheik, and Sahib Gregg, are the life guards, and as 
such have the boat. It seems to you it serves more as a 
diving float than as a hfeboat, but the Sirdar at least is 
always watchfully at his oars. 

After supper the three trumpeters together blow retreat; 
then, immediately after, Rossiter blows 'Ho the colour," 
while the troop stand at attention in the big Scout circle, 
giving the military salute, and the flags are taken down by 
the troop leader. 

The First Camp-Fire. — Everybody is well tired out, but 
there is wood for a camp-fire — Gailey has turned out a 
wonder at chopping, and a brick, too, for that matter — 
and at dark the first camp-fire is lighted, the ceremony of 
which unfortunately you miss. Well, no matter. Nick 
explains that it is only an affair of three matches; applied 
simvdtaneously, emblematical of the three promises in the 
Scout Oath. Then the singing! You never imagined the 



I04 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

troop could sing so well, or knew so many songs. There is 
story telling, too, with some good yarns from unexpected 
quarters. 

But by the time the first sweet notes of tattoo come from 
out of the darkness at headquarters, there are hghts in more 
than half of the tents. No sleeplessness to-night. With 
your tent-mates you make short work of getting to bed, and 
when Nick '' douses the glim" at taps, you notice that no- 
body, yourself included, has anything to say. The last 
thing you remember is counting four distinct individual 
sighs — sighs of complete contentment you know — from 
as many different points in the darkness of the tent. And 
you drift away to swim, and signal, and run foot races in the 
land of dreams. 

RULES OF THE CAMP 

1. Obey the Scout Law. 

2. Answer all trumpet calls instantly. 

3. Cooperate. This is a cooperative camp. Get into things 
' instead of getting out of them. 

4. Profanity, rough-house, or any other rowdyism, has no 

place in this camp, and will result in severe punishment. 
No smoking. No firearms allowed in the camp. 

5. Use the latrine exclusively, and obey the order posted there 

with reference to throwing earth in the pit afterward. 
Failure to do so will result in punishment. A covered 
bucket is provided for night use, if necessary. On hikes, 
use the "method of Moses." 

6. Commit no nuisance in or about the camp. To do so will 

result in your being sent home. 

7. Failure to answer any roll call will be punished by your 

being required to do double grub duty. 

8. Throw waste paper and other litter that will not attract 

flies in the waste barrel at the corner of the mess- tent. 

9. The honour of raising and lowering the flags the following 



CAMP DISCIPLINE 105 

day will be awarded each day to a member of the squad 
whose tent wins the highest mark at inspection. Mem- 
bers of the successful squad may select the Scout to have 
the honour. 

10. Use your own drinking cup. And drink only water from 

the spring. At meals, drink water in preference to coffee 
or tea. It is better for you. 

11. Boisterous behaviour and loud talk at mess will not be 

tolerated. Be mannerly, and insure the enjoyment of 
meals by all. 

12. Report at once to headquarters any sickness or ailment, 

especially after taps. 

13. Maintain quiet from taps at night till first call in the 

morning. 

14. Patrol leaders will deposit mail at headquarters at the 

officers' meeting at 8.45 a. m. 

15. Report lost articles and make any requests or complaints 

at first assembly, 8.30 a. m. 

16. No trumpet calls, and no music by the fife, drum, and 

trumpet corps except as ordered or specified, will be 
allowed. 

17. The Order of the Day is the program of the camp. No one 

will be excused unless sick. 

18. Enjoy yourself. That's what we're here for. 

Scout Master. 



CHAPTER X 

COOKING 

CALAMITIES sure do come in battalions.'' You 
are in doubt as to whether it was the tall man in 
your dream who said so or Nick, who is standing at 
the tent door in his pajamas, looking out. You knuckle the 
sleep out of your eyes and make a weak effort to sit up. 
''What's that?" you grunt. 

"Aw, its going to rain. And I'm on cook duty as sure 
as my name's Finley. What is worse still, I've got you 
and all the other dubs in the F and G families for company. 
One H, too; whose name starts with H? I can't cook, and 
you can't, and . . ." 

''Thump!" Good shot! "Thwack!" Nothing hke a 
pair of sneaks to avenge an insult. 

"Hey, hold up now, Nick! Ouch! O-o-o-o! Ow!" 
And you are out of bed. The trouble is, a well-aimed sneak 
is dead sure to come back with interest when Nick is the 
recipient. Too canny to throw them both, he wallops you 
with the one he holds in reserve. 

Meantime, however, in his eagerness to settle his account 
with you he has stepped on Pud, who promptly rises — on 
his knees — to the emergency, wraps Nick's legs in a close 
embrace, and slams him down on Tilly. For all of which, 
that small but by no means to be pitied "tent-mite" pro- 

io6 



COOKING 107 

ceeds to choke Nick into a less hostile frame of mind. 
*'Let up, you young brutes," he gasps at last. *'No rough- 
house. What did the Scout Master say ! " 

Just what that much-quoted official did or did not say, 
however, must wait to be discussed at another time, for 
reveille, blown in rattling quick time on three trumpets, 
sets you all to flying into your clothes. 

Down for Grub Duty. — After setting-up drill, with Nick 
and a few others you stop at headquarters, and sure enough 
your name is down for grub duty, on the bulletin board. 
"Ah ha!" chortles the irrepressible Rooster, coming up: 

"'The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,' — that's you, 

Nick Finley, 
'And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, ' — you've 

got 'em both, 
'Await alike the inevitable hour,' — 9.15 to be exact — 
'The paths of glory lead but to the' — cook-tent!" 

Yes, Rooster can run; no question about it. But Nick 
gives him a hard chase. Nothing backward about Nick — 
not to-day, anyhow. 

But when, after the second assembly, the Assistant Scout 
Master marches you and five other Scouts in charge of Nick 
to the cook-tent, you realize that Nick's supposed grouch 
was nothing more than the outcropping of a creditable con- 
cern over his responsibiUties. The second day's cooking 
had not been up to that done by the pioneers, and he had no 
room in him for the thought that his detail might do even 
worse; which thought no doubt pursued him in a most per- 
sistent manner. 

Changing Cooks. — As you approach the cook-tent, the 



io8 



TEE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



^^^^^ 




• - ^ **^r-?".i i<^?^ 



A Camp Ice-Box 
Should be on the north side of a large tree. 



detail on duty there spring into line and stand at attention. 
Mr. Tilton halts your file opposite them, gives the com- 
mand facing you toward them, and informs the leader of the 
detail going off duty that Nick and his Scouts are to take 
their places. He reminds them of their liberties as reward 
for their work, compliments them on the showing they have 
made, and asks for a report. "Have you any suggestions 

that may be of use to the new 
detail? Any suggestions to 
headquarters about the sup- 
ply of provisions or the cook- 
ing equipment?" 

"No, sir," says "Com- 
modore" Casey, retiring 
Officer of the Day, who got 
his nickname because he has 
qualified as a Sea Scout. "We are leaving everything in 
good shape — except our reputations as cooks. I have 
nothing to suggest except that it is dangerous to put too 
much salt in the soup. I will stick around for a while and 
explain the menu and the recipes to Nick, and show him 
the difference between the pots and pails. We have marked 
them so the mistake of making soup in the coffee kettle 
can be avoided. And there is a small matter of demon- 
strating the difference between a lemon and an onion, 
that was taught us by the pioneers — we will pass that 
along." 

"Thank you," laughs Mr. Tilton. "Nick, you will pick 
out three cooks to help you, two Scouts to chop wood, 
carry water, and dispose of garbage, and one Handy Scout 
to make himself generally useful. Fall out." 



COOKING 



109 
"Who 




To your surprise, all the retiring detail remain, 
is your Handy Scout, Nick?" they ask. 

''Happy, there. He's always on hand." 

Investing the Handy Scout. — ''All right, Happy." The 
Commodore takes a large serving tray from the table. "In 
choosing you, your leader has, unknowingly to either of you, 
conferred upon you the honourable degree of Chief Scout 
Fire Fanner. This tray is 
the emblem of your office," ^, •• .^ 
and he passes the tray to 
Happy. "If there is no more 
breeze than there was this 
morning, you will need it." 

Next, an onion and a 
lemon are produced. Every- 
body gathers around, Mr. 
Til ton included. 

"Now then, Nick," says the Commodore, "I have here as 
you see, an onion and a lemon, easily distinguished with the 
naked eye, as explained to us by our predecessors. And a 
most ingenious and infallible method it is, I assure you. I 
will now demonstrate it to you, Nick, as the leader of your 
detail." 

"Very interesting," rephes Nick. "But why go to so 
much trouble?" 

Onion or Lemon? — "No trouble at all. On the con- 
trary, a pleasure. I place the onion and the lemon side by 
side on this bench — something else very useful, by the 
way, left to us by the pioneers. Now, if you look closely 
at the lemon — take a look, Nick, that's the idea — you will 
realize that if you are squeezing the juice out of a lemon, a 



Cross-Section View of a Camper's "Cellar" 

An eflScient means of keeping milk and butter 

cool if there is no spring and no ice. 



no THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

hard squeeze may easily cause it to squirt unerringly, and 
quite far enough to reach the eye. If this happens, you will 
find that the juice burns the eye. The onion, on the other 
hand, may be squeezed with impunity; the juice will not 
squirt out of it. You merely get it on your hands. But if 
in some manner, say by rubbing the eye with the hand, you 
get some of the juice out of the top of this onion in your eye 
— just take a close look at the top of this onion, fellows; 
don't pick it up, don't crowd, let everybody have a look. 
If you get some of the juice out of the top part of it in the 
naked eye — that's the idea, Nick, take a close look at the 
top — why, it stings! ^^ 

Sting it certainly does, for simultaneously with the an- 
nouncement, and as Nick is obligingly stooping to look 
closely at the top of the onion on the bench, the Handy 
Scout of the retiring grub detail hits him a spanking whack 
where his shorts are the most taut, with a specially pre- 
pared paddle. 

*'0w!" And above the uproar, Nick swears vengeance 
upon the next chief cook. *'Just wait! You're all right, 
Casey. That was an excellent demonstration. I'm sure I 
can do it now myself." 

Down to Business. — But the Commodore and his crew 
have not stayed merely to amuse themselves. They quickly 
show your detail where to find things, and see you 
started before they leave. "Start your fire good and 
early," the Commodore admonishes Nick, at parting. "It 
makes more work for the choppers, but you've got to have a 
good big bed of hot coals to cook properly. My advice is 
to start the fire at least two hours before meal time." 

Left to yourselves, Nick tells you and the other two cooks 



COOKING 



III 




to read the menu and the recipes, while he sets his choppers 
to work. "No round wood, fellows," he directs them. 
"Gailey, you're a good axeman, show these fellows a thing 
or two, will you? I notice there is no chopping block. Get 
hold of one nobody can spHt and it will not get burned. 
Work up a good pile, so you won't have to chop this after- 
noon, and you'll not miss out on any of the fun — providing 
it doesn't rain. Pile your wood in a pyramid and cover it 
with that old tarpaulin. When you get done, fill the water 
pails; then you can join 
the troop. No need 
working all morning, 
with three of you on the 
job. 

"Happy, you and I 
have to help Mr. Tilton 
build the garbage in- 
cinerator. Get the 
shovel. Jim, you're sec- 
ond cook. Read the 

recipes — you and Graves and Harrison, and be ready to 
get dinner." 

The sods for the incinerator having been cut the day be- 
fore, by the Commodore's detail, you know your help is not 
needed, and turn to the menu, which is fastened with thumb- 
tacks on a board over the camp-chest cupboard. "Let's 
read the whole thing," and you take out the thumbtacks 
and spread the sheets before you. "Why, there's only 
menus here for the first four days." 

"Sure," replies Graves at your elbow. "Start all over 
the fifth day. Perhaps have to make some up toward the 



How Uncle Sam's Soldiers Build a Garbage 
Incinerator 

The basis is a barrel, which is burned out the 
first time the incinerator is fired up. The four 
trenches are to provide for a good draft no matter 
how the wind blows. Three of them should al- 
ways be blocked up at firing time. Ashes, etc.. 
are raked out through these trenches. 



112 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



end, according to the grub that's left. No, that isn't it 
either, there's writing on both sides of the pages." 

BILL OF FARE, NINE DAYS, TWENTY-FIVE MEALS. 
SUBJECT TO CHANGE, TO ACCOMMODATE 
USING ALL PROVISIONS 



FIRST 


DAY 


Dinner 


Supper 


Soup 


Fried eggs. Boiled rice 


Fried bacon 


Stewed tomatoes 


Boiled potatoes. Baked beans 


Bread and butter. Stewed 


Bread and butter, marmalade 


prunes 


Lemonade 


Cocoa 


SECOND 


DAY 


Breakfast 


Dinner 


Fried bacon. Fried onions 


Soup, 


Griddle cakes with syrup 


Pot roast. Canned corn 


Bread and butter 


Boiled potatoes 


Coffee 


Bread and butter. Stewed 



prunes 

Cocoa 

Supper 

Boiled rice. Boiled macaroni 

Stewed apricots. Molasses cookies 

Bread and butter or peanut butter 

Cold tea 



THIRD DAY 



Breakfast 
Oatmeal and milk 

Fried bacon 

Bread and butter 

Coffee 



Dinner 

Ham and eggs 

Baked beans 

Bread and butter 

Marmalade 

Cold tea 



COOKING 113 



Supper 

Boiled rice and raisins 

Stewed prunes 

Bread and butter or peanut butter 

Lemonade 



FOURTH DAY 

Breakfast Dinner 

Corn batter cakes with syrup Beef stew 

Fried rice. Fried bacon Boiled beans 

Bread and butter Bread and butter. Stewed 

Coffee peaches 

Lemonade 

Supper 

Canned salmon. Canned corn 

Stewed peaches (cold) 

Bread and butter or peanut butter 

Cocoa 



FIFTH DAY 

Breakfast Dinner 

Oatmeal and milk Lamb stew 

Fried bacon Boiled potatoes. Creamed 

Bread and butter onions 

Coffee Bread and butter 

Marmalade 
Lemonade 

Supper 

Boiled macaroni. Baked beans 

Cornmeal mush 

Stewed prunes 

Bread and butter or peanut butter 

Tea 



114 TEE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

SIXTH DAY 

Breakfast Dinner .^ 

Fried potatoes. Fried mush Soup 

Boiled frankfurters Pot roast. Stewed tomatoes 

Bread and butter Boiled potatoes 

Coffee Stewed apricots 

Bread and butter 

Lemonade 

Supper 

Boiled beans. Fried ham 

Bread and butter or peanut butter 

Stewed prunes. Molasses cookies 

Cocoa 

SEVENTH DAY 

Breakfast Dinner 

Fried bacon Beef stew 

Griddle cakes with syrup Boiled beans 

Bread and butter Boiled rice and raisins 

Coffee Bread and butter 

Cold tea 
Supper 
Boiled macaroni. Boiled potatoes 

Stewed apricots 
Bread and butter or peanut butter 
Cocoa 

EIGHTH DAY 

Breakfast Dinner 

Fried ham. Fried potatoes Soup 

Fried onions Bacon and eggs 

Bread and butter Stewed apricots 

Coffee Bread and butter 

Lemonade 



COOKING IIS 

Supper 

Boiled potatoes. Canned corn 

^^ Boiled rice and raisins 

Stewed prunes 

Bread and butter. Cheese 

Cocoa 

NINTH DAY 

Breakfast Luncheon 

Boiled beans Salmon sandwiches 

Bread and milk Bread and butter. Cheese 

Coffee .Fresh fruit 

Lemonade 

"Say, notice the fresh fruit in that last menu. He's for- 
gotten it up till then," says Harrison. 

Menu Merely a Guide. — - ''I'll bet he didn't," returns 
Graves. ''That's down there because he knew if he was 
able to get any fruit at all we would need it then. He 
couldn't put everything down. We had those plums night 
before last, and cucumbers last night. Nick says we'll have 
watermelon Sunday noon. This is merely to go by." 

"Well, we know what's on the docket to-day, anyhow," 
says Harrison. "We've got it easy. Ham and eggs, and 
canned beans for dinner. Let it rain if it wants to." 

That reminds you that there is a fly to be put up over the 
serving bench; and as the senior Scout of the three of you, 
you take charge of the job. 

Afterward you get out the typewritten list of recipes. 
"Beef stew. Cook for two hours," you read. "Gee! its 
lucky we don't have to cook that," you say to yourself. 
"Nick would be in a hole." You look at your watch. "Hey, 
Gravey, its half-past ten. Tell them to have a good fire 



ii6 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

by eleven o'clock. You and Harrison get out about forty 
potatoes and wash them. One big potato to a Scout or 
two small ones." 

"All right," replies Graves, ''Nick just told them about 
the fire. What are you going to do? " 

''I'll be on the job all right." And you settle down to 
read all the recipes. 

RECIPES — BASIS OF THIRTY SCOUTS 

Breadstuffs and Cereals 

Griddle Cakes . — 5 quarts prepared flour, 
I can molasses, 

Mix with milk and water to a smooth batter, adding 5 or 
6 eggs if available. Batter should be just thin enough to 
run from the spoon. Better too thick than too thin, to 
begin with. Polish frying-pan, heat over fairly hot bed of 
coals, grease with bacon rind. Stir batter and pour three 
cakes in each pan . Pan should be so hot batter will sizzle. 
When cakes are full of bubbles, and stiff at edges, turn with 
cake turner. Shake pan to prevent cakes sticking. 

Corn Batter Cakes . — Same as griddle cakes, except 
use 3 quarts of corn meal, 2 quarts prepared flour, i tea- 
spoonful salt. , f^\ 

Corn Meal Mush. — 4 quarts corn meal, 

4 level tablespoonfuls salt. 

Mix with cold water to a batter that will run from a 
spoon. Bring 4 gallons of water to a boil, and add the 
batter gradually, so not to reduce temperature of water too 
much. Stir constantly while mush boils 10 minutes. Cover, 
and put in warming pan to cook slowly for i hour. Stir 
occasionally, and for thinning be sure to use boiling water. 



COOKING 117 

Fried Corn Meal Mush . — Slice cold mush in nar- 
row strips, and fry. Have fire hot, and use enough crisco. 
Oatmeal. — 2 J pounds (ij packages) rolled oats, 
ij gallons water, 
2 level tablespoonfuls salt. 
Add oatmeal to salted boiling water. Boil in double 
boiler for fifteen minutes, then set in warming pan to boil 
gently for another fifteen minutes. 
< Boiled Rice — 2I quarts rice, 

if gallons water, 
I tablespoonful salt. 
Wash rice in cold water. Have salted water boiling 
hard before adding rice. When rice mashes easily in the 
fingers (20 minutes to half an hour) strain off water, add 
raisins if any, and set in warming pan with the lid off, to 
dry and swell. 
Vv Fried Rice. — To fry cold, boiled rice, use plenty of 
crisco, \ pound or more to each frying-pan. Have pan 
smoking hot, add rice, and stir constantly with the cake 
turner to prevent burning and to mix the melted crisco with 
the rice. 
j/ Boiled Macaroni . — 2 pounds macaroni, 

3 gallons salted water. 
Break the macaroni to short lengths. Boil thirty-five to 
forty minutes, and drain. 

Vegetables 

Baked Beans (canned). — 8 cans beans. 

Empty into small boiler and place in warming pan to heat. 

Boiled Beans . — 6 pounds beans, 

I pound bacon, diced. 



ii8 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

Wash beans thoroughly and place in large boiler with 2 
gallons of water. Skim when water commences to boil. 
Place boiler in warming pan and let simmer for 4 hours. 
Add bacon when the beans have cooked for 2 hours, and 
season with salt and pepper. If additional water is needed, 
it should be boiHng. 
Canned Corn. — 8 cans corn, 

I quart beef stock (if available), 
I tablespoon sugar, 
I J-lb. can evaporated milk. 
Empty corn out of cans into a small boiler, add beef stock 
(strained), sugar, and milk. Season with salt and stir 
thoroughly. Place in warming pan and allow to become 
quite hot (but not to boil); add flour batter to thicken 
slightly, and let come to a boil in about fifteen minutes. 
Creamed Onions . — 60 onions, 

2 quarts beef stock (if available), 
I small can evaporated milk. 
Select onions of medium size, leaving the large and the 
small ones for frying. Boil from 30 to 45 minutes and 
strain. Bring the beef stock to a boil, thicken with flour 
batter, and add the milk. Stir well, and pour over the 
onions; place the boiler on the fire and bring to a boil. 
Salt to taste. 
Fried Onions. — 30 large onions, or their equivalent, 
peeled and sliced; 
J lb. crisco, 

I quart beef stock if available. 
Place all in the two frying-pans, equally divided, and put 
on hot fire. When the water is evaporated, stir till the 
onions are browned. Season with salt and pepper. 



COOKING 119 

Boiled Potatoes. — 30 medium large potatoes or their 

equivalent. 
Wash the potatoes, and boil with their jackets on, for 
from 30 to 40 minutes. Test with a fork. 
Fried Potatoes . — 30 medium large potatoes or their 

equivalent, boiled. 
Peel and slice the potatoes crosswise, season, and put into 
frying-pans containing hot crisco. Cover, and fry for about 
15 minutes. Stir occasionally with cake turner to prevent 
burning. 
Stewed Tomatoes (canned). — 2 cans tomatoes, 

J lb. bacon drippings, 
I tablespoonful sugar. 
Empty the tomatoes from the cans into a pot, and add i 
tablespoonful of sugar and J lb. of bacon drippings. Add 
broken bread and a quart of beef stock if available; season 
to taste. Place on fire and allow to come to a boil, but not 
sooner than when ready to serve. 

Meats and Eggs 

Fried Bacon. — 5 lbs. bacon. 

Slice six slices to the inch. Place in a boiler, cover with 
boiling water, and let stand 5 minutes. Strain ofif water 
and fry in frying-pans on hot fire. 
Fried Ham. — Same as above. 
Beef Stew. — 9 lbs. beef (chuck). 
I lb. bacon fat, 
8 onions, 
I pint rice, 
8 potatoes. 



I20 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

Have meat in small chunks (cut by the butcher) . Chop 
bacon to small cubes, put in pot, and place on fire to melt. 
Add the beef, raise pot and flip it so all sides of the chunks 
of beef will be coated with the hot fat. Add chopped onions, 
chopped potatoes, and rice, cover with boiling water, put on 
the fire just long enough to insure boiling, season with salt 
and pyepper, and rem.ove to the warming pan to simmer for 
at least two hours. 

Lamb Stew . — Made same as beef stew. 

Pot Roast . — 9 lbs. beef, 

I lb. chopped onions, 
J pint vinegar, 
I pint flour. 

Have the meat cut in i-lb. chunks, place in a pot in about 
I inch of hot water, with salt and pepper, add onions and 
vinegar, and cook on a moderately hot fire for 20 minutes. 
Then remove to the warming pan to cook slowly for 2 hours 
or until done. The meat must be turned at least four times 
while cooking. When done, take from the pot, slice, and 
cover with gravy made in the pot with hot water and flour. 

Boiled Frankfurters . — 8 lbs. frankfurters. 

Do not cut the sausages apart till cooked. Boil them for 
a minute in plenty of water. Let them remain in the hot 
water till ready to serve. 

Soup . — For canned soup, use 9 cans to a mess. Rinse 
each can with a canful of hot water, adding same to the 
stock. Heat almost to boiling point. To make soup from 
spare, fresh meat, bones, left over meats from stews, and 
vegetables, simply add about 2J gallons of cold water, boil 
for I hour, season, and set in warming pan to keep hot. 
Skim off grease and stir before serving. 



COOKING 121 

Fried Eggs . — 30 eggs. 

Have the fire moderately hot, and use plenty of crisco. 
Use care not to break the yolks. Cook medium, one side 
only. 

Stewed Fruits 

Stewed Prunes, Apricots or Peaches . — 2 J lbs. 
dried fruit. 

Soak the fruit overnight in enough water to cover. Bring 
to boiling point and remove the kettle to the warming pan 
where the contents should be kept simmering for i hour. 
Season with nutmeg and a little vinegar. 

Beverages 

Coffee. — Put 3^ gallons of water in the coffee kettle 
and bring to a boil. Add i pound ground coffee, in a 
cheesecloth bag, and remove from fire at once. Let stand 
fifteen minutes, add i pint of cold water to settle, let stand 
a little longer, remove the coffee grounds and add milk 
before serving. 

Tea. — -Bring 3I gallons water to a boil; add i pint of 
tea in a piece of cheesecloth suspended in top of kettle. 
Boil for 5 minutes, remove the tea leaves, add milk, and 
serve. 

Cold Tea . — Follow preceding recipe, except use only 
2 gallons of water. When tea is made, add 2I gallons 
cold water, and place in cooler. Use no milk. 

Cocoa. — Bring 3 gallons of water to a boil, add i\ 
pound cocoa and let boil for 5 minutes. Add 2 quarts 



122 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

milk, sweeten with sugar to taste, and stir well before 
serving. 

Lemonade . — Squeeze the juice from 30 lemons, add 
3 gallons of water, sweeten to taste, and place in cooler. 

Time to Get Busy. — ''Hi hum." Almost put you to 
sleep. Let's see, now; Nick is on the job at the fire. You 
look at your watch, which you have hung on a nail over the 
cupboard. Whew! After eleven o'clock. You grab the 
can opener and start opening the cans of beans. Graves, 
at your elbow, transfers the "fruit," as he calls their con- 
tents, to a waiting pot. "The beans are on." Nick is 
sHcing ham like a butcher. "Hey, Jim, get out 30 eggs. 
You, Gravey and Harrison, butter and slice three loaves of 
bread. Butter the end of the loaf before you slice' it 
Pile the bread up on a couple of trays. Get a wiggle, now, 
fellows." 

So you work to win your spurs as a sure-enough camp 
cook. Glad you are, when mess-call is blown for dinner, 
that the first bill of fare was so simple to prepare. But you 
have the satisfaction of knowing that the grub is all right. 

After dinner, the four of you cooks hold a consultation, 
and arrange about the work of preparing supper. With an- 
other easy menu, Nick is jubilant, and facetious as ever. 
"No rain yet, fellows, and nothing on our minds but rice, 
prunes, and lemonade! And the Scout Master just prom- 
ised me we shall have a hired cook next year, we are doing 
so well. Jim, let's wind Gravey up for an alarm and go to 
a picture show." 

An Easy Afternoon. — What you really do, however, is 
hustle through the pot washing and then give Graves and 
Harrison the afternoon off, with the strict injunction to 



COOKING 123 

show up at five o'clock. 'I'll stick around/' says Nick. 
^'I'm boning up to try for a merit badge for public health, 
and I want to wise up to the Scout Master's sanitation sys- 
tem. I'm going to make notes on everything, the Red 
Cross tent included." 

''Well, I'll keep you company, Nick," you offer. ''I'm 
just as much interested. I've been wondering all along 
why there are not more flies around. We'll have to put the 
prunes on early, too — they take over two hours." 

But you learn from Mr. Tilton that the Scout Master 
is going to instruct the whole troop on the sanitation of the 
camp some day before the camp breaks up, and as the troop 
is not going on the projected hike on account of the threat- 
ening weather, you keep Nick company in helping your 
patrol hold up its end in some scouting contests held on 
the campus. 

A Storm at Last. — The climax of the day comes at five 
o'clock on the wings of a wind storm. Black clouds have 
been piling up in the northwest all afternoon, growing con- 
stantly more threatening. The wind has been steadily 
rising, and the tents have been straining uneasily at their 
guy-ropes. The Scout Master, firm in his beHef that the 
storm will go around to the northward, has left the flags 
up, to stream in all their beauty against the dark sky. 

With Nick, Graves, and Harrison about the cook fire, 
you have been discussing the American (bald) eagle of the 
neighbourhood, which you saw yesterday afternoon when 
you were across the lake signalHng. You had never before 
seen the grand bird in his native element, and are recounting 
for the seventh or eighth time how fine he looked, soaring 
away up in the blue, his conspicuous white head and tail 



124 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

shining splendidly in the afternoon sun, when 'Whangety! 
Whang! " goes the first clap of thunder behind you, and the 
camp rocks and flaps in a sudden fierce onslaught of the 
wind. The Scout Master is at the foot of the flag-pole, 
and you expect momentarily to hear retreat blown. Again 
the thunder volleys terrifically down the air steeps of the 
sky. The lake is lashed to white caps, and is now an 
ugly greenish black, instead of its former entrancing blue. 
'^ Whang! Bangety! Bang!''' How the trees bend in the 
wind, how the tents flap and belly! Funny it doesn't rain. 
What is the Scout Master waiting for? 

''Old Abe" in Camp. — ''Look at the eagle!" A clarion 
yell from the Scout Master that brings the Scouts out pell- 
mell. And there, not more than a hundred yards above the 
camp soars the great bird, breasting the storm magnificently. 
Such tense excitement! And what a cheer rings out as he 
passes over the camp, and the circle of Scouts, gazing aloft 
at him, realize that for once in their lives they see the Bird 
of Freedom and the Star Spangled Banner flying together! 
But does Old Abe veer or take alarm at this terrific outburst 
so close under him? Not he. With an occasional flap of 
his immensely broad wings he soars straight on, over the 
grove, and out over the lake. Then while the Scouts still 
stand spellbound, the great bird suddenly drops his legs, 
raises his wings high over his back, and with a scream dives 
out of sight behind the grove. It all happens in a jiffy. 

Although half the troop run headlong to the water's edge, 
no one is quick enough to see just what the eagle did, or 
where he went to. 

At tattoo, four hours later, the four of you in your tent 
are still arguing the question as to whether or not the eagle 



COOKING 125 

dove to the lake after a fish. The majority of opinion is 
that he did. 

"Well, I may be wrong," says Nick, ''but I didn't miss 
my guess when I said it would rain. There she goes now. 
Much obliged to you two fellows for ditching the tent. 
Now, if the tent doesn't leak, pleasant dreams for one tired 
Scout. Nice to hear the rain on the tent isn't it? " 

''You bet!" 

"I wonder where old Mr. Eagle is now," persists Nick^ 
comfortably tucked in his bed. "I maintain " 

Chorus: "Go to sleep!" 

Note: — The above described incident of the eagle's visit to the camp is 
based upon an actual occurrence, at the camp of Troop No. i, Boy Scouts of 
America, Mamaroneck, N.Y., at Peach Lake, N. Y., in August, 19 13. 



CHAPTER XI 

CAMP HEALTH 

YOUR detail have planned to spend the morning of 
your day off following your day on cooking duty, 
by hiking across country. But the bulletin board 
announces that the first thing on the morning's program 
after the second assembly, is to be the talk on Camp Health 
by the Scout Master, which all of you want to hear. So 
after the ''onion or lemon" ceremony you join the troop, 
just as it halts by the cook-tent. 

*'This ends the marching, boys," says the Scout Master. 
"We will proceed without formation. We will make this 
a sort of personally conducted tour and I will do the lectur- 
ing. Ask all the questions you want. But don't make me 
blow my whistle for attention. First stop will be the 
spring. Fall out." 

Off you all go, every Scout in camp, to the spring, a hun- 
dred yards away down in the grove. 

Pure Water. — ''Now, boys," says the Scout Master, 
when all have sat down in a big semicircle around the 
spring, "this spring is the thing of first importance to the 
health of our camp. If it were not a pure spring, and we 
nevertheless used it, some of us would doubtless develop 
vacation typhoid soon after we get home. Vacation ty- 
phoid is quite common, and in most cases perhaps comes 

126 



CAMP HEALTH 127 

from drinking bad water; but there is another source, which 
we will take up later on. 

"In the late Russian- Japanese War, the Japs almost in- 
variably boiled their drinking water, even at the front, 
where one would think they had little time for anything but 
fighting. And they astounded military men and doctors 
the world over by the fact that they had more men killed 
in battle than by typhoid fever. Not that they made a mis- 
take in boihng the water, but because in all other wars fever 
had done more damage than bullets. 

''Our spring is pure. I had a sample analyzed and found 
it so. But this fact alone would not have satisfied me. 
If it were located on the other side of camp, below where our 
latrine is, I would not have trusted it even after having 
found it stood analysis. Not because of the location of the 
latrine, as of course that would not have been located there, 
but because the spring would then have been in the line of 
possible drainage from the stable and the privy up there 
on the hill — I am talking of underground drainage, not 
surface drainage. 

Long Distance Pollution of Springs. — "I dare say you 
are wondering how a spring could be affected when so far 
away from the source of pollution — it is two hundred 
yards at least from our latrine to the barn. If it were not 
for the rain there doubtless would be no possibiHty of it. 
But when the rain falls, some of it runs off as surface drain- 
age, some of it is absorbed by the soil, and more than the 
average person realizes passes into springs, streams, and 
lakes by the underground route. This underground water 
is called ground water, and the springs are simply the over- 
flow of it. 



128 



THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 




''You would naturally think this ground water would be- 
come filtered in passing through the soil. It does, to some 
extent. But in the case of the pollution reaching it at some 
distance below the surface of the ground, as from a privy, it 
may be carried long distances in the cleavage and fracture 
lines of the rock strata without any filtration to speak of. 
In a limestone country there are in- 
numerable underground crevasses, run- 
ning in all directions, through which 
the ground water passes without any 
filtration whatever. A typhoid epi- 
demic was one time traced to a Hme- 
stone spring which was polluted almost 
ten miles away. 

''And the same thing applies to 
wells. I told you boys not to drink 
the water from the well up at the 
house because it was bad. I don't 
actually know that it is polluted, but 
if a typhoid fever patient or a so-called 
typhoid carrier were to use the privy, 
which is only fifty feet from it, I think 
the health authorities would soon have to condemn the 
well. Lots of privies never fill up. Can you guess why? 

Danger in Brooks. — "As for drinking from the brooks 
we cross on our hike to-morrow — don't do it. Carry your 
canteens, filled right here at this spring. I know of only 
one of the six that we will cross that is perhaps to be trusted. 
The others all unquestionably receive drainage from barn- 
yards and privies. And even that one may have a dead 
horse buried in the convenient gully where it rises. So 



How to Make a Camp 

Filter 
' Will clarify and make 
palatable water which is 
hardly suitable for drink- 
ing or cooking. It should 
be cleaned every day, and 
supplied with thoroughly 
washed fresh sand, gravel, 
and pebbles. Auger holes 
in the bottom of the keg. 
This filter does not purify 
water to the extent of ex- 
cluding germs. On the 
other hand, if not properly 
and regularly cleaned it 
may become a breeding 
ground for them. 



CAMP HEALTH 129 

many farmers are absolutely thoughtless with regard to 
sanitation. 

*'0f course one swallow of contaminated water does not 
make a case of typhoid, any more than one swallow of an- 
other kind makes a summer. Otherwise, we perhaps all 
would be dead. Good health saves us from the conse- 
quences of many indiscretions. But at the same time it is 
well to know a bear trap when we see one, even if it is not set, 
lest we put our foot in one some day when it is. Unsanitary 
conditions are the bear trap, harmless enough until set by 
disease. Then one case of typhoid is apt to result in an 
epidemic. 

''So much for the water supply, although a great deal 
more might be said. The next important question is the 
opposite one of waste disposal. 

Disposal of Waste. — " We have nothing like the prob- 
lem of a military or labour camp, or a large camp such as is 
conducted by the local councils of the Boy Scouts of a few 
of the largest cities. In such camps complications are apt 
to arise between water supply and waste disposal, and the 
camp pollute its own water, unless special sanitary pre- 
cautions are observed in laying out the camp. In the mili- 
tary reserve camps in the South in this country during the 
Spanish- American War, where there never was an enemy to 
worry about, there was a terrible amount of typhoid. A 
large camp is unable to camp on a little knoll, as we are 
doing, with the water supply on one side and the latrine on 
the other. The latrines must be reasonably convenient to 
the tents, and so must the water supply. And the larger 
the camp the more complicated the sanitation is bound to 
be unless it is possible to carry water through a system of 



I30 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

pipes from some single source of supply that is beyond pos- 
sibility of contamination. 

"But the prevention of any possibility of pollution of the 
water supply by the latrine does not end the danger of 
disease. There are still the flies and mosquitoes — the 
typhoid fly and the malaria mosquito, if conditions are 
^ right' — to be reckoned with. Many campers, it is true, 
do not trouble themselves with sanitary precautions against 
flies. We might be just as neglectful and suffer no conse- 
quences — unless some one of us happened to contract 
typhoid before coming here, or should get it from drinking at 
some neighbouring well, spring, or brook while on some of 
our hikes. But we are not that kind of campers. We are 
not only scrupulously careful to preserve our good health, 
and to observe the rules of cleanliness, but we also have a 
proper respect for the health of others. There will not be 
any ' Boy Scout' flies hatching out here after we leave, to go 
to other camps on the lake or to houses in the neighbourhood. 

Flies and Mosquitoes. — ''Now I know you are thinking 
that there are flies around our camp. That is true, but 
they came to us, as they seem to come to every camp. We 
are not to blame for them; it takes a month for flies to 
hatch. 

*' You all know that the Rules of the Camp compel you to 
use the latrine and to go nowhere else, night or day, for the 
purposes for which the latrine is provided. Also that you 
must throw dirt into the pit with the shovel before you leave. 
And you know that every scrap of waste from the cook-tent 
and the mess-tent that can be burned is burned, and that 
which cannot is buried in the ground, dishwater included. 
The only disinfectant we have is a small quantity of chloride 



CAMP HEALTH 131 

of lime. You know there is a two-gallon can of kerosene, 
and have seen Mr. Til ton spray it on the burlap screen 
through which the slops are poured into the slop pit and 
outside the cook-tent wherever there were crumbs on the 
ground or water or grease had been spilt. That keeps the 
flies away from the places. He also sprays the latrine pit 
in the same manner. In addition, he sprays the sides of 
the latrine pit with a solution of chloride of lime. He 
sifts a small amount of chloride of Hme into his disinfectant 
bucket, fills the bucket half full with water, stirs it up, and 
when the chloride of lime is dissolved takes his garden 
spray and goes to work. The mixture drives flies away and 
prevents germination of any kind. A solution and the 
spray are used because this is the only feasible way of get- 
ting the chloride of Hme into the desired places. A small 
sprinkling can would serve fairly well instead of the spray, 
but it pays to do things right. You can always borrow a 
spray, and you need the bucket anyhow. A chloride of 
lime solution is also used in scrubbing the latrine seats. 

The Latrine. — ''Our chief disinfectants and deodorizers 
are soil, fire, and sunshine. Loose soil contains nitrifying 
properties — germs, to be more explicit — capable of de- 
stroying all putrescible matter, providing sufficient soil is 
used. In the case of the latrine, aeration and sunshine help 
out — you will notice the top of the tent is rolled up 
in fair weather. The trench on the uphill side of the tent, 
which some of you laughed at because you thought it was 
due to absent-mindedness that I ordered it dug, is to pre- 
vent the flooding of the latrine trench in the event of a 
storm. If it were to be flooded, we no doubt would have 
to fill it and dig another. And the reason why you are 



132 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

required to throw dirt in the latrine pit immediately after 
using it, is not only to provide a cover to exclude flies, but 
also to furnish an absorbent and to start the soil nitrates to 
work. There is an extra pile of black humus or leaf mould, 
to use in addition to the soil dug out of the pit, because the 
woods humus is a better absorbent and deodorizer than 
ordinary soil. There is no odour about the latrine, and 
I have seen no flies since we started spraying kerosene 
there. 

"Kitchen" Slops. — ''In the same manner, the soil is 
used to dispose of the waste from the 'kitchen' which it is 
impossible to burn. This is not buried merely to dispose of 
it in the sense of getting it out of the way in the most con- 
venient manner, but is literally thrown to the devouring 
soil nitrates. 

"The slop pit is filled in regularly for the same reason, and 
the burlap screen is scraped with the camp hoe to remove 
solids that it has screened from the water, and this matter 
is buried along with the other wet waste, not in the slop 
hole. Then, as I have already said, the screen is sprinkled 
with kerosene, sometimes with chloride of lime. The sun- 
shine does the rest. You will notice a new slop pit is dug 
every other day. 

"The slop pail, which is also the disinfectant pail, and the 
garbage can each has a close-fitting cover, and nothing 
ever remains in them long — except that garbage accumula- 
tions from supper remain in the can till after breakfast in 
the morning. Yet every morning, after being emptied, 
these two receptacles are sprayed with kerosene and then 
burned out by applying a match to the kerosene. The 
urinal bucket provided for night use would be burned out 



CAMP HEALTH 



133 



in the same manner if used. I'm glad to know that nobody 
in the camp is too lazy to go to the latrine. 

^'The last, but by no means the least important, use of 
kerosene is to destroy the larvae of mosquitoes. Every 
possible breeding place within a quarter mile radius of the 
camp was anointed by the pioneers the day they arrived. 
A liquid ounce of kerosene is enough for fifteen square feet 
of water, but every little puddle must be treated. Happily, 
only a few places were found. One treatment is enough for 
ten days, as that is about the minimum length of the breed- 
ing time of mosquitoes. 

''The combustible garbage is burned in the incinerator, 
which you have seen, also all empty tin cans, waste paper, 
and the like. The cans must be burned, as much as they 
will burn, because some of their contents always remains in 
them. The refuse is raked out of the incinerator and 
buried, along with the eggshells if there are any. Com- 
bustible garbage is thrown in 
a barrel, not in the garbage 
can, and burned after each 
meal. This garbage barrel 
gets a spraying with the 
chloride of lime solution once 
a day. 

Protecting the Food. — 
"As to our food, in addition 
to being wholesome and 
thoroughly cooked — there's 
much danger in incompletely cooked food, such as beans, as 
it irritates the stomach and gives any disease germs a chance 
to take hold — we keep it away from the flies, except at 




The Make-Shift Camp Larder 
The front is hinged, and ordinarily is closed. 
It stands in cans of water to exclude ants. 



134 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

meals. Our bread is received wrapped and sealed in oiled 
paper, and is not unwrapped until needed. The butter is 
kept in covered crocks, in the spring, here; also the milk 
in covered tin pails, and stewed fruit in a covered sauce 
pot. Then we have our larder, which we made in camp, 
screened so it keeps out house flies — but not the little 
fruit flies, I am sorry to note, though there are very few — 
and proof against ants on account of each leg standing in a 
can of water. Not at all elegant, but a useful piece of 
furniture. 

Where the Flies Come From. — ''And speaking of in- 
sects reminds me once more about mosquitoes. We have 
been bothered hardly at all. This is not only due to the 
use of kerosene, as I have mentioned, but also because the 
grass is short; there is no jungle of weeds anywhere about, 
and very little undergrowth in the grove. As for the flies, 
they come from the stable, of course. They might be 
worse, for I took pains to find out what the conditions were, 
before deciding to come here, and at the time converted our 
friend Thomas to fighting flies in the manure pile. He has 
built a closed shed for the manure, and has quite a 
model stable. And that reminds me to say he has an eye for 
cleanliness, and has remarked about how neat we have our 
camp. 

^'This is not a talk on personal health, understand, boys; 
just a general explanation of the precautions we are taking 
to keep sanitary. And I think I have said enough, con- 
sidering I am talking to Boy Scouts, and you all are familiar 
with the Rules of the Camp posted at headquarters. So 
now we will go up to the Red Cross tent, where Mr. Tilton 
will give a short talk on personal health, supplementing the 



CAMP HEALTH 135 

last one he gave at our headquarters in town, before we 
came to camp. Let's hike." 

''Gee," says Nick to you and the others off duty, "that 
was pretty long for a 'general explanation.' He didn't put 
any of his usual ginger into it, but it was worth staying 
for. That about the contamination of springs especially. 
Shall we go along and hear Mr. Tilton, fellows? " 

"Sure." 

Personal Health. — For a layman, the Assistant Scout 
Master makes a pretty good camp doctor, having had ex- 
perience in the Hospital Corps of the National Guard, as 
well as being interested in the work. And he has a great 
way of diving right into his subject and saying a lot in a 
few words, when he gives a talk. This time he makes no 
exception to the rule. 

"Now, fellows, here we are. Only way I can get any- 
body to the hospital is by holding an auction. Here's a 
fine empty cot with nice cool sheets and a big soft pillow. 
What am I bid for the privilege of occupying it and getting 
a free treatment for abdominal cramp? Who's going to 
be first to give the doctor something to do? What? Did 
I hear some one? Come on, now, boys, fine chance to find 
out what it's like to think you're going to die. 

"What? No candidates? All right, I've got your atten- 
tion, anyhow — that's what I wanted. Step up close. 
All listening? Well, I want to tell you the fact that none 
of you has been sick shows you have been honest with your- 
selves — that you haven't stolen the lock off the front door 
of your health, robbed the treasure vault of your constitu- 
tion, or set fire to your physical resources. 

"Criminal Carelessless." — "There is a saying that 



136 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

sickness is a crime. It is not exactly that, but it is in per- 
haps most cases the result of one. Typhoid is the result of 
the crime of neglected sanitary precautions. Isn't it? 
Isn't it? It might not be your neglect, supposing you should 
get it, some one of you. But somebody else would be guilty, 
wouldn't he? You couldn't get it otherwise, could you? 

"And a plain case of biHousness — that is the conse- 
quences of the crime of overeating. Isn't it? It's just as 
big a crime to make yourself sick as it would be to make 
some one else sick, isn't it? To overload your poor defense- 
less stomach is just as much a crime as to overload a horse, 
isn't it? Isn't it? 

"Now, if you drink too much cold water on a hot day, and 
get a cramp, that is not only committing a felony against 
your poor defenseless stomach — a case of assault is a fel- 
ony, and to give your stomach too much cold water on a 
hot day is to assault it — it is not only a felony against your 
stomach, but it is to also steal your time away from your 
vacation, and to steal the time of those who have to take 
care of you. That's crime, isn't it? 

Neglected Teeth. — "Now, just for an example, you all 
use your tooth brushes in the morning, don't yt)u? Why? 
It is to clean your teeth so you will not swallow the poison 
on them with your breakfast, isn't it? You don't want to 
poison your stomach. But why wait till morning to remove 
the food that turns to poison overnight if left on your 
teeth? Suppose you do remove it in the morning, and so 
protect your stomach — but how about your teeth? Is 
it right to your teeth, is it fair to them, to allow that poison 
to be forming in them all night long? Is it right to let the 
acids of that poison eat into them all night long? No. It 



CAMP HEALTH 137 

is just as much a crime against your teeth to brush them 
only in the morning, as it would be a crime against the 
health of this camp if we were to dispose of the garbage but 
once a day, and leave the Hds off the garbage can and the 
slop bucket all day long. In fact, it is a greater crime, for 
the poison of the decaying food in your teeth is in direct 
contact with them constantly, whereas the poisonous de- 
cayed matter in the garbage could not reach our food and 
our drinking water except as it might be carried there by 
flies and mosquitoes. 

*'Be honest, not only with your stomach, boys, but with 
your teeth. Brush them after supper. 

The Sentry Who Sleeps. — ''And be watchful to ob- 
serve all the sanitary rules of the camp. Remember that 
to neglect a principle of cleanHness is not only a disgrace, 
that the matter does not stop there at all, but is a crime 
against yourself, the troop, and the pubHc. For, like the 
picket who goes to sleep on his post, you not only neglect 
your duty, but actually provide the enemy, disease, an un- 
guarded place to creep through the sanitary picket Hne. 
Although the sentry would never be shot simply for going 
to sleep on duty, it is not hard to beheve that so severe a 
penalty might be meted out to him for providing the enemy 
the chance to enter the camp and murder his comrades in 
their sleep. Now for another example: suppose one of you 
has contracted typhoid before coming to camp, say in a 
mild form only, and has not yet developed sickness; if 
he were to commit a nuisance about this camp or did 
not comply with the rule about throwing earth in the lat- 
rine, half the troop might develop ' vacation typhoid' when 
we get home. 



138 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

Severe but Necessary. — "Now I think you will clearly 
understand why we have the rule that any boy who com- 
mits a nuisance in this camp will be sent home. And I' 
hope I have impressed you, in a way that you will never 
forget, with the justice of that rule. Also, I trust you will 
take even more pride in keeping yourselves well, as the good 
sentry keeps himself awake and alert. 

*' Talk's over. Ten minutes to examine the arrangement 
of the Red Cross tent — from the outside — and for asking 
questions. Then there will be some more examinations by 
the Scout Master, and I will take those not being examined 
on a tree hike." 

Ten minutes later, and — "Fishing!" says Nick. "Or 
I should say fish-worms. No time to fish before dinner, 
and no use going, anyhow — the fish won't bite this time of 
day. But we can get our bait. Nothing better doing in 
camp this afternoon, till swimming time. Come on, you 
fellows off duty — I'm so full of sanitary ideas I've got to 
put some of them in practice right off. Follow me, and 
we will dig the sHmy angle worm from his squaHd abode 
and teach him how to be sanitary in a neat tin can filled 
with nice, clean, damp moss." 




Recall 
The "braces" at the bottom of the flag-pole do not speak well for this scout's troop. 



CHAPTER XII 



MORNING SCOUTING 



EVERY morning from 9.15 to 12 o'clock is devoted 
to work, examinations, talks by the Scout Master 
and his Assistant, and scouting of one kind and an- 
other. There is a lot to do, too. You thought before you 
came that the troop would go on a hike every day. Morn- 
ing is the time for hikes, but they are being crowded into 
the afternoons. You had no idea the time of the troop 
would be so fully taken up. There are tower and bridge 
building, fire drill, first-aid drill, wall-scaling drill, observa- 
tion tests, parade drill, tree and plant hikes, a geology 
hike — goodness knows what all. Great fun, too, all of it. 
Geology or Snakes? — Take the geology hike, for ex- 
ample, the afternoon of your first day off duty. You are 
not interested in rocks, you tell Nick. "Rattlesnakes, you 

139 



I40 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

boob," he retorts. "We can fish afterward." And what a 
treat that geology hike turns out to be ! You never have 
seen a Hve rattlesnake, nor have more than two or three of 
the other Scouts in the troop. But the Scout Master knows 
where there is the chance of finding some, and deploys the 
troop in a long skirmish line, every Scout armed with a club 
and wearing long trousers, leggings, and leather shoes. Mr. 
Tilton has his hypodermic syringe and the necessary anti- 
dotes. Dangerous? Not a bit of it. Just the opposite. 
Ordinarily the troop might swarm over that hill with no 
thought of snakes. Cruel? By no means. Who wouldn't 
kill a rattlesnake? Beside, the Scout Master wants to get 
a rattler so you all may gain some first-hand knowledge 
about them, and to have the skin for the troop's natural 
history collection. He gets it, too, or at least Gailey gets it 
for him. 

Gailey comes from a part of the country where rattle- 
snakes are common, and knows where to look for them. It 
is his trained eyes that detect the wriggling gray streak that 
nobody else might have seen. "Yip ! " And in two jumps 
and a whack it is a "good" rattler. Then the inquest. 
Curiously the tail is the point of interest that receives the 
most attention. "Thirteen rattles and a button," an- 
nounces Gailey. "A regular old buster. I had no idea 
they ever grew so large up here in the North." 

"Hunt's over, boys," says the Scout Master. "Up the 
hill now, to the level place below the face of the bluff where 
that gravel slide is, to see how many of you know who Wil- 
Ham Smith was. But watch out for snakes." 

History in Stones. — Up under the little escarpment at 
the top of the hill you learn that this particular WilHam 



MORNING SCOUTING 141 

Smith was "The Father of English Geology," and made the 
discovery, but a little more than a hundred years ago, which 
opened the door to our present geological knowledge of the 
great antiquity of the world. And the Scout Master tells 
you, in a most fascinating way, how man's existence on the 
planet has been traced back through an astounding length 
of time by fossils of plants and animals found in the suc- 
cessive sedimentary formations of the earth's crust. 

You are much interested to learn that it all came about 
through William Smith's discovery that the successive 
sedimentary formations contained fossils of plants and ani- 
mals which were different in each formation, and that the 
rock formations have been grouped by the geologists accord- 
ing to the fossils of plants and animals that have been found 
in them, not by the character of the rocks themselves. 
These fossils denote the climate, and as in the same region 
different layers of earth have been found to contain fossils 
of extinct animals of opposite habits, those in one being sub- 
tropical, while those in another are arctic, and as in between 
the layers containing these extremes in fossils there are 
several other layers of sediment, each of which it must have 
required a great many years to deposit, the geologists have 
been able to compute the length of time that has elapsed 
since the lowest of several of the upper layers of the earth's 
crust was deposited. 

Without these fossil records it would be impossible to 
know the age of the stone implements and the skulls of man 
that have been found in these same layers of sediment, the 
Scout Master says, even though the anthropologists have 
wonderful collections of skulls and stone implements which 
show very clearly the development of the human race. 



142 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

But with them, it is now unquestionably established that 
the men who made the stone emplements recently found in 
excavations in Germany and Belgium lived at least one 
hundred thousand years ago, and that the earliest of the 
races of which the anthropologists have established records 
must have lived two or three times as long ago. 

*'So you see," concludes the Scout Master, "not only are 
the rocks themselves classified according to the fossils that 
they have been found to contain, but the age of every dis- 
covery of relics of ancient man is found, not by examining 
the relics themselves, but by the character of the particular 
layer of the earth's crust in which they are found." 

Kangarooed. — Many questions are asked, all but one 
of which the Scout Master does his best to answer. This 
one, asked by the troop upstart, terminates the talk. And 
almost immediately afterward it gives you the opportunity 
of seeing the Kangaroo Court convene in earnest. For 
asking what kind of a rock it was with which David slew 
Goliath, the Court imposes the penalty of running the gaunt- 
let. The whole troop line up in two ranks, facing inward, 
with their hats as weapons. And when the culprit emerges 
from the ordeal, well flustered, it is not hard to see that he 
has learned his lesson. 

"Served him right if the Judge had told us to use our 
belts," says Nick. ^' Scout Master gives up his time for 
us and does everything he can to make the troop a success, 
all without a bit of reward except the respect and friendship 
of the fellows in the troop. Well, we will see that he gets 
that much reward anyhow, if we have to hammer it out of 
some of these fresh kids with clubs." 

Real Engineering. — The bridge and tower building next 



MORNING SCOUTING 



143 



morning provides a fine contest, 
two patrols being assigned to each, 
the cooks being on the bridge job, 
because they can stay on the work 
for only a Httle over an hour, and 
the tower building is the most 
difficult. The tower, much to your 
surprise, is to be erected in the lake, 
and the bridge connects it with the 
shore. In the end, however, the 
Scouts not only have the experience 
of building a tower and bridge 
under circumstances perhaps never 
before attempted by a Boy Scout 
troop, but the camp has a combina- 
tion lookout and driving tower the 
like of which the lake has never seen. 




Detail of Lashing 

The tower is like that designed 
by Troop No. i of Port Chester, 
N. Y., with only one alteration, and 
its construction is not difficult, be- 
cause the troop has one at home 
that is used for demonstrations. 
Getting it up in the water presents 
no great problem, though awkward; 
but placing it close to the ^'pitch- 




The First Two of the Four 
Sides of the Tower 
Laid out on the ground and 
spiked or lashed, they are erected in 
the water and held in place while a 
Scout ascends each and lashes them 
together with_ connecting poles. 
The four remaining main poles are 
added last, these being the two 
long ones reaching down into the 
deep water, and those that go with 
them. The thin lines are ropes 
for raising the sides. 



144 



TEE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 



off," where the beach suddenly slopes away to deep water, 
is a real difficulty. 

The Scout Master in charge of the work, has, after con- 
siderable difficulty the previous afternoon, secured his 
-measurements, and makes the proper allowance in the 




•'•feEBjpQ-"^' 



The Port Chester Signalling Tower Becomes a Diving Tower 

This is an elaboration of the signalling tower designed and first built 

by Troop No. i, B. S. A., Port Chester. N. Y. 

length of the corner poles, two of those on the outer side 
being much the longest. But when the first two sides, laid 
out and spiked on shore, are raised in the water, and a Scout 
goes up on each to lash the cross-pieces connecting them, it 



MORNING SCOUTING 145 

is found that the outer section erected close to the pitch- 
off is settling, and it is decided that cribbing and ballast 
are necessary. 

So the sides are taken down, and strong cribbing poles are 
securely spiked on each of them, the two on the bottom 
being largest and fastened with extra long spikes. Then 
these sides are erected once more, the necessary cross poles 
to hold them in place are lashed on, the remaining four long 
corner poles erected, lashed, and spiked, and their cross 
poles added, and the two builders return to the water to help 
finish the cribbing. This is accompKshed by pushing poles 
crosswise between the cribbing poles spiked on the sides 
first erected, supplying walls and floor. Then the crib is 
filled with rocks, the whole troop turning to. And a tre- 
mendous job it is, the crib holding a couple of wagon loads 
of boulders. Luckily, boulders are plentiful — and Farmer 
Tom kindly helps out with a horse and a stone-boat. But 
the tower is now as firm as firm can be, and is soon finished. 

Up to Stay. — The bridge building, under Mr. Tilton, is 
simple, with a centre pier and one on the shore, made by 
driving poles with Farmer Tom's maul. So in the end the 
job is done. But what a job ! The tower wins, of course. 
But the Scout Master says, *'One such tower is experience 
enough for three years, for any troop. It is too big an under- 
taking for so short a time in camp. We'll have to come back 
here next year to get enough use out of it to pay us for the 
work." 

However, judging from the way the boys learn, in the 
four afternoons they have left before going home, to dive 
and jump from its elevation of twelve feet above the water, 
and from the Scout Master's satisfied expression as he 



146 TEE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

watches them, you form the opinion that he is well pleased 
with the undertaking. As for yourself, you tell Pud how 
fortunate it is to belong to a troop with so many big, clever 
Scouts in it. The Scouts are tremendously proud of it all, 
and the detail off grub duty do not in the least regret the 
morning's hoHday they have sacrificed to help with the work. 

Cooperation. — That is another thing you like in the 
fellows in the troop. They are all willing to pass up their 
leave of absence, which they have well earned, to help the 
troop in any undertaking. When the troop came to camp 
you were pretty doubtful of the success of the Scout Mas- 
ter's plan of having the cooking done by the members of 
the troop. Some of the fellows could cook, you knew, but 
when it came to taking each day's detail from the troop 
roster in alphabetical order, you felt sure one detail would 
turn out all good cooks and another all poor ones. But 
you soon readjusted your ideas when you saw how the 
fellows took hold. 

There were Graves and Harrison, for example. At first 
they didn't even know how to butter bread, but before 
their first trick on grub duty was over they were just as 
handy as you. *' There isn't a blockhead in the troop," the 
Scout Master had said. "And you are willing. That is all 
we need. I am sure every Scout will enjoy having the 
privilege of working for the troop, and the troop will be 
proud of the service." And that is just how it has turned 
out. Moreover, there is a good deal of conscious pride in 
the troop concerning the fact, now thoroughly demon- 
strated, that the Scouts can run their own camp in first- 
class fashion without a bit of outside assistance, and do more 
other work, play more, and have more fun between whiles, 



MORNING SCOUTING 147 

than any fellow ever knew or heard of at any other boys' 
camp. 

''That shows you what organization will do," says Nick. 
''The Scout Master's got us all with him, strong as mus- 
tard. And in turn he's got us running like a well-oiled 
engine. It's the finest thing that could happen to a fellow, 
to be in this troop and in this camp. We're tuned up Hke 
a winning football team — pulHng together, every fellow 
forgetting himself and thinking of the interests of the whole 
bunch. 

Consolidated Loyalty. — "Look at Good-Turn Daly. 
He's been in the troop just two months. Joined just to 
come to camp — says so himself. And look at the change 
in him! Never did a good turn before in his selfish httle 
life. Fellows used to call him 'Shrimp.' There isn't a 
better kid in the troop now. That time he got kangarooed 
for knocking the Scout Master woke him up. He's learned 
discipline and loyalty — and that's what's made a real Scout 
of him." 

Nick is right, too. 

"And look what the fellows have done for Tom," he per- 
sists. "He treated us right the very first thing. And he 
can have anything we've got. Fellows are doing his chores 
for him, instead of steaKng his plums. I tell you the Scout 
Master has the right idea when he says the average boy is 
all right but doesn't know it. This camp proves it." 

Yes, it does. More than anything else, it proves the 
value of organization in showing a group of boys that they 
are all right — especially when they have discipline and 
loyalty instilled in them to the degree that they are able to 
appreciate it. 



148 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

'^ Inside" Discipline. — Like a wheel within a wheel, the 
discipline within the discipline of the troop is interesting to 
contemplate. Sunday, the sixth day, furnishes an ex- 
ample. There is no program after the second assembly. 
The Scout Master has announced that the boys may spend 
the day as they wish; also that no religious service will be 
held in the camp; those desiring to do so may go to church 
in the village, two and a half miles away, where there are 
churches of various denominations. He must stay in camp, 
because visitors are expected. Naturally, every one is glad 
to have a day free from discipline. And still there is dis- 
cipHne all the time. 

The boys going to church stop at headquarters when 
leaving and report, as a courtesy to the Scout Master. The 
inseparable Wise Men of the East, who have won the right 
in a drawing contest to take out the ''battleship," as Far- 
mer Tom's big skiff is called, do likewise; in this case, not 
only as a courtesy, but because they are going far down the 
lake, and know the Scout Master should be acquainted with 
the fact. Judge Woodbury, in his bathing suit, rigs a hik- 
ing tent over the diving tower as an awning, and takes his 
place up there, without orders, to keep an eye on the lake 
front, with the Hfe-boat tied below ready for instant use if 
needed. He, too, has reported to the Scout Master. Later 
in the morning, when the Scout Master himself leaves the 
camp to do some telephoning, he sends you to Mr. Tilton 
to report the fact, who in turn sends the report on to the 
Officer of the Day, with the additional information that he 
also is leaving, to pay a visit to some campers down the 
lake. 

Yes, discipline is the thing; there's never any fear of mat- 



MORNING SCOUTING 149 

ters being at sixes and sevens where its influence holds sway. 
What with Nick's lecture and these simple incidents to think 
over, you feel that you have spent a profitable morning. A 
conclusion which suggests a nap. 

Chumming. ~ A nap in the middle of the forenoon ! 
That's the idea. With Rooster you hunt a quiet place in 
the grove, and there lie down on your blankets. But you 
never so much as close your eyes. Too much to talk about. 
Rooster, as usual, wants to discuss birds, and you, on your 
part, are equally worked up about the ''show" scheduled for 
Monday afternoon, at which you have heard Judge Wood- 
bury is going to appear as Daniel Boone. Later, the dis- 
cussion drifts to the fife, drum, and trumpet corps, and what 
marches they will play on dress parade in the evening, it 
having been decided to hold dress parade for the visitors, 
after retreat. 

' ' Ka-loo-0-0-0-0- ! ' ' An automobile ! And in short order 
the visitors are arriving, bringing Sunday papers, hand- 
shakes, and smiles for everybody — and a couple of whop- 
ping watermelons. All in all, it is about as lively a morning 
as any. 

Spectacular Stunts. — Fire drill on Monday is so much 
fun that you wish there had been time to hold it every day. 
The excitement is fine. Unfortunately, to have a really 
spectacular drill calls for a good deal of smoke, and in their 
enthusiasm the ''incendiaries" neglect to pile enough weeds 
on the fire (for smoke making) and the "house" (made with 
a couple of tumbledown sign-boards brought from the road- 
side), catches fire from the blaze inside it and is so nearly 
destroyed before the bucket-line puts it out that another 
fire is not feasible, even if time for it could be found. 



ISO THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

Wall scaling and first-aid drill follow in quick succession, 
affording good competitions. And the rope climbing con- 
test in the barn is a rouser, there being four ropes. Each 
patrol has one, and at the starting signal must get it over a 
beam above the swing-beam hay mow, which is empty, 
make it fast, and climb up into the mow. A bowline is 
tied on the end of each rope, a long piece of cord attached, 
and on the end of the cord a heavy iron nut from Tom's 
scrap-box. At the signal, each patrol leader throws the nut 
carrying his cord over the high beam. Of course it lands 
in the mow, but there is a Scout there for each patrol, who 
throws it down and follows down the ladder. The rope is 
quickly drawn over the beam, the other end slipped through 
the bowHne, the latter yanked up to the beam, and up go 
the Scouts in a grand scramble. The Boones are first up, 
next the Kit Carsons, then the Crocketts, and last, more's 
the pity, the Kentons. Nick had utterly overlooked Tilly's 
rope-climbing instruction, and Tilly did the losing. Another 
stunt everybody would hke to try all over. But once again 
it is time for recall. 

The Big Hike. — Tuesday morning is your last morning 
for scouting; next day the troop packs up to go home. By 
common consent the full time is devoted to a ten-mile hike 
around the lake, with a test of the ability of the wireless 
corps, and the worth of their apparatus as the main feat- 
ure. And as a fitting chmax, they acquit themselves in 
fine- style, not only sending the Scout Master's messages to 
camp from a hill over two miles away, but receiving re- 
pHes from Sirdar in camp, who also sends the Scout Master 
a message received in camp, which has been telephoned to 
the nearest phone station, at '' the next house up the road," 



MORNING SCOUTING 151 

requesting him to take photographs of the diving tower for 
the newspaper, the editor having heard all about it from 
some of your visitors. And thus you all know, before 
starting for home, that the fame of your camp has travelled 
before you. 

"Well, boys," says the Scout Master, when you reach 
camp at noon, ''our last morning's scouting is over. Now 
which morning did you enjoy the most?" 

''Saturday — the morning we built the tower," is the 
answer given by the majority. 

"Sure of that?" 

"Yes, sir — hard work, but look what we did." 

"Well, boys, I'm proud of you. I guess I'll have to let 
you tackle that log cabin headquarters after all." 

"Hip, Hip, Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" 




THE COMING OF THE COMEDY KING 

He is received and conducted to his throne by the Cluck-Cluck Clan, who 
have charge of the gala day at the annual encampment- 

152 



CHAPTER XIII 

AFTERNOON FUN 

IN COMMON with the rest of the troop, you made more 
preparations for fun while in camp than for anything 
else. But your equipment is nothing compared to that 
of some others, you find. Early in the encampment you 
realize that there are to be some big surprises, and rightly 
conjecture that the best will come from the Three Wise Men 
— and the Judge. Yes, you must surely count the Judge 
in on anything big. 

Swimming starts the ball rolling — and keeps it going 
most merrily, every afternoon from four to five o'clock, 
sometimes even later, depending on the Scout Master's 
generosity. Most of the boys would stay in the water till 
mess-call if he permitted it. But he makes it an unvarying 
rule that when he himself leaves the water recall is blown. 
He will not take chances on the safety of any boys left be- 
hind, and excuses of being late in getting *'in" do not count 
with him. So the boys make the most of it while it lasts, 
and, in the words of Rooster, "joy is unconfined." Yes, 
and if joyous yelping is an indication, the chief trumpeter 
gets his full share. Nearly all who are not First-Class 
Scouts pass the test of swimming fifty yards, whether taking 
the other First-Class tests or not. 

Camp Athletics. — The "track and field meet" is a big 

153 



154 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

success, even though there is not a single prize. No one, 
in fact, even so much as thinks of prizes. Somewhat to 
your surprise, you find that the Scout Master can rim like 
sixty, even if his hair is turning gray. To stand at a little 
distance and see him, in shorts and athletic shirt, getting 
*'set" at the mark with the rest in the officers' race, you 
would hardly think him a staid middle-aged business man. 




Putting "the Last Ounce" In It 

But he is not so quick in starting as some of the others. Mr. 
Tilton is first, and the Scout Master and Sirdar are tied for 
second place. They run another heat to decide it, and this 
time the lanky Sirdar wins. 

The junior races are just as exciting, even if not so fast. 
And then, when it comes to your turn, Rooster trims you 
neatly. He certainly is getting to be a sprinter. The 
handicap, twice around the camp outside the tents, with 
everybody in but the Scout Master, Mr. Tilton, Judge 
Woodbury and Nick, is the most exciting race of all. Sir- 



AFTERNOON FUN 155 

dar, running from scratch, comes very near to winning, but 
pays the penalty of having started too fast and is beaten to 
the tape by Rooster, whom he passed the first time around. 

Back to First Principles. — A smooth, round stone serves 
for the shot in the shot-put, which goes to the Scout Master, 
with the Judge leading the Scouts. For the hammer, the 
same stone is tied in a sack, the bag furnishing the handle. 
Again the Scout Master triumphs. But this time it is the 
Commodore who leads the Scouts. A stocky pair, the 
Judge and Commodore. 

At broad jumping, Mr. Tilton has the best of it, with 
Sirdar next, and the Scout Master a bad third, scarcely a 
heel's breadth ahead of Sheik, who is only sixteen. 

''Oh, just wait," says the Wise Man, '' I'll pass him on the 
high jump." 

But he does nothing of the kind. The Scout Master 
knows how to jump, if he is getting a bit stiff, and does 4 
feet 6, which, although he says it is "not even a beginning," 
bluffs the vaHant Sheik out entirely. Unexpectedly, 
Gailey, the big Tenderfoot, who is as tall as the Scout 
Master although only fourteen, now comes to the front, for 
the first time in the meet. He also has mastered the pe- 
culiar style in jumping that marks every jumper of exper- 
ience. And the bar is put up until he has cleared 5 feet. 
But that is his best. Plenty good enough to win him the 
admiration of the troop, who are glad to have a high jumper 
at last. 

And Nick, oh, where was he? 

"Running the meet, you dummy," he would have an- 
swered, had you asked him. And a capable referee at that. 
Just why he will compete in only one or two field and track 



iS6 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

events is a puzzle to you. For at baseball and football he 
is a mainstay of the troop's first team. Perhaps, like Judge 
Woodbury, he keeps out to give the others a chance, al- 
though you doubt it. Maybe he is imitating the Judge. 
If that's the case he has his work cut out. You think if any 
one in the troop qualifies for the Judge's understudy it is 
the troop quartermaster, ''Still Bill" Milburn, as capable 
as he is quiet, even if he seldom does shine. 

Baseball Takes a Back Seat. — The ball game — you 
had hoped there would be two or three, one at least with 
an outside team — provides a good time, considering that 
more than half the troop are in the game. But mention of 
a second game fails to arouse interest. Perhaps the lack 
of a crowd is felt. Or is it that the Scouts have had about 
all the baseball they want for the season? There can be no 
doubt that the best players, some of whom play on the high 
school team, find it rather tame. You ask Nick about it. 

"Now, look here, Jim," he growls, laying a heavy hand 
on your shoulder, *'I Hke to have you in my patrol, and all 
that. And I'm dead sure you are going to be President 
some day. But I do wish you would get a copy of Sherlock 
Holmes and learn how to ferret out your own mysteries. 
It's the simplest thing in the world, deduction. Now in the 
present instance : We have all the rest of the long, beauti- 
ful summer to play baseball, and only — how many, two 
more? — two more short afternoons to discover the foun- 
tain of eternal youth. What's the answer? " 

"I've got you. But say — how about this gala day 
affair? I know I'm not in on it, but. . . ." 

The One Mystery. — "But me no buts, my son. If I 
were so much as to peep I might peck my way out of my 



AFTERNOON FUN 157 

shell. And then I'd be a gone gosling, for the Wise Men 
would never rest till they had me in the lake with a rock 
around my neck. Go put on the gloves with somebody — 
there's Rooster, you can put it over him. Or practise up 
on that nip-up tumbling stunt of yours — you need the 
practice for to-morrow, and you can't do any worse than 
break your neck. Go on, now, like a good lad. Hear 
that? I called you a ' lad' — Go on and leave me alone to 
my sor . . ." 

Biff! 

Nick likes to hear himself talk. But from the look in his 
eyes as you hurry away, he would much rather act. 

Scouting Competitions. — The "tumbhng stunt" gets 
its test on Monday afternoon, when the "Medley Program'* 
is run off, including scouting competitions, a tumbhng ex- 
hibition by the candidates for the gymnastic team, which 
will play a strong part in the troop's "shows" during the 
winter; life-saving demonstration by the patrol leaders, and 
diving and swimming competitions. Oddly enough, the 
event that creates the most fun and excitement is one the 
Scout Master makes up on the spur of the moment. This 
is held after the last of the Scouting tests, an observation 
race. 

There are two gates, just alike, both hung on the same 
post but opening into different fields, beside the barn, some 
fifty yards from where the troop is grouped in the grove. 
A wagon with a spring seat stands a few yards nearer the 
troop, an equal distance from the two gates. The Scout 
Master divides the troop by patrols, as for a flag race, and 
places Mr. Til ton and Judge Woodbury at the gates to open 
them. "Now, at the starting signal, one from each side, 



158 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

carrying a semaphore flag, will run and close a gate and 
fasten it, run and jump into the wagon and sit on the seat, 
jump out and run back here and pass the flag to the next 
Scout in his line. The first flag back the last time wins. 
The gates must be shut and fastened, remember, or your 
side will be disqualified. Mr. Tilton and Woodbury will 
open them. Those on the right take the right-hand gate. 
Here are your flags. Ready, Set, Go!" 

Whoop ! Such yelling and whistling. Some of the best 
runners bungle the job of shutting their gate. They get 
rattled, perhaps. Some are much quicker than others at 
getting into the wagon. Pud slips and falls flat on the 
floor of the wagon box after he is in it. Another takes a 
tumble getting out of the wagon. A third turns an ankle 
running over a bit of rough turf. Milburn and Gailey get 
tangled in the wagon, and hold each other away from the 
seat, while their respective sides yell encouragement. Above 
all, it is mighty funny and exciting. 

"Stable-Fire" Race. — The race makes such a big hit 
that another is tried, somewhat different. Instead of carry- 
ing a flag, the Scouts now carry a halter, run into the stable, 
tie the rope with a halter knot to the manger in that stall, 
run into the next stall, and untie a halter there, and return 
with it. Thus four halters and four stalls are in use. The 
Scout Master explains that in event of a fire in a stable the 
horses brought out must be tied somewhere to prevent their 
returning as they surely would, even though the stable 
were burning furiously. Mr. Tilton and the Judge remain 
in the stable to make sure the knots are properly tied and to 
prevent any confusion as to which stalls are to be used. 
This race also is productive of excitement and fun. But 



AFTERNOON FUN 159 

the Scouts are all glad the Scout Master cut down the dis- 
tance to twenty-five yards before starting it, for they do not 
want to run themselves out, with the swimming races yet 
to come. 

"Any more? " asks some one, when the race is over. 

"I guess that is enough, boys," says the Scout Master. 
"Unless you want to try a bumblebee race." 

"What!" "What's that?" "A bumblebee race!" 

"Yes. I know where there is a good, lively nest in the 
ground over there in that patch of clover. I'll put a stake 
on each side of the nest, and hang a Scout's hat on each. 
Then the ones to start will carry a hat, change the hats on 
the stake that belongs to their side, and return. And they 
can use one or both hats to keep away the bees! Are 
you . . ." 

"Not on your life!" "Have a heart!" "Cruelty to 
animals ! " ''It's — time — to — go — swim — ming! " 

"All right. Thought that would stop you. Swimming 
call, Rossiter." 

Aquatics. — The swimming and diving competitions are 
not particularly interesting, because every one knows who 
the best swimmers are. But when the life-saving exhibition 
comes, and the patrol leaders attempt to "save" Mr. Til- 
ton, and he on his part tries to give them a realistic example 
of how dangerous an undertaking it would be if he were 
actually drowning and crazed with fear, duckings are so 
persistent that the Scout Master becomes worried and blows 
his whistle. And as it happens, all are glad to get ashore 
to rest and recover their breath, the Assistant Scout Master 
included. Later, the Scout Master tests the patrol leaders, 
one at a time, by having them bring him ashore from deep 



i6o THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

water, he meantime doing nothing to help himself — except 
when he has to! Two of the four accomplish the task in 
fine shape. The others, although sometimes submitting 
the Scout Master to more water than his breathing appar- 
atus can comfortably stand, nevertheless satisfy him that 
they know their work fairly well. 

The cHmax comes when the Judge quietly offers to bring 
'Mr. Tilton ashore from as far out in the lake as he cares to 
go, *' and make him come peaceably." It is a challenge not 
to be denied. But you feel pretty sure Mr. Tilton will not 
take too many chances with the troop's crack Scout — an 
Eagle Scout at that — for fear of getting more than he cares 
for of his own medicine. Woodbury is not an officer in the 
troop, because he will not accept an office, having, as he 
maintains, had more than his share of honours. As a 
finished Scout, it would be difficult to find his superior. 

You are not a bit surprised to see Mr. Tilton jump over- 
board from the boat not more than two hundred yards from 
shore, and make but a feeble resistance when reached by 
Judge, as he is in quick time, the Scout being a master of the 
crawl stroke. No more strenuous ''death grips," the Judge 
might break them a bit too roughly for comfort. The 
Assistant Scout Master is quickly brought ashore, where 
Woodbury demonstrates resuscitation. 

He certainly well deserves the honour he enjoys, of being 
the idol of the troop, does this same quiet Eagle Scout; for 
with all his abihty, there is none of the braggart about him. 

Comes the Comedy King. — So you are immensely 
pleased when, the following afternoon, in the height of the 
wildest frolic of the encampment, when the Sheik in the 
r61e of the Comedy King is taking the camp by storm, you 



AFTERNOON FUN i6i 

recognize in his tattered and abject *' minion" the sturdy 
figure of the Judge. 

The Comedy King comes to camp from across the lake, 
in the "battleship," rowed by a single minion. He is met 
at the water's edge by the Cluck-Cluck Clan, who have 
"terrorized the camp into making no resistance." Two 
husky Cluck-Clucks, easily recognized despite their "blood- 
red" masks, to be the Sirdar and Teddy Sahib Gregg, take 
the King upon their shoulders and carry him to the campus, 
where he is placed upon his throne, made of some boxes 
covered with bunting. And there his poor minion kneels 
at his feet, head bowed low, a picture of abject submission. 

Sitting very straight, with a most amazing expression of 
scornful "imperiousness" on his painted face, for a mon- 
arch of his kind, the Comedy King stares the camp to si- 
lence. The Scouts sit down in a circle. And then ensues a 
dialogue : 

King: "Arise, base minion, and quit thy grovelling." 

Minion: "Aye, sire." 

King: "Why came we here, slave? Who are these 
people? Speak, or I shall!" 

Minion: (Falling on his knees.) "Speak not! I pray 
thee." 

King : " Rise, craven. Why should I not speak? " 

Minion: "Because the lessons thou teachest are best 
taught indirectly. I, thy poor minion, am well qualified to 
speak for thee." 

King: "Speak on, impudent knave, but beware what 
thou sayest." 

Minion: "We are come here, most worshipful master, 
to teach faith, hope, and charity. Faith in the good in 



i62 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

everything, hope for betterment in everything, charity for 
the bad in everything. These are the Boy Scouts, loyal 
subjects all, who yet do not understand thee." 

King: "Why am I not understood by them?" 

Minion: "My Lord, thou art not quite understood 
by any one save thy minions. If men fail to pierce thy 
thick mask of fun, how shall boys see thy sad face?" 

King: "And how know ye I am sad, wise knave?" 

Minion: "Because I, too, am sad." 

King: "Who art thou?" 

Minion : " I am Sorrow. ' ' 

King: "And why sad?" 

Minion: "For the woes of this sad world." 

King: "The world has life. Is that not enough?" 

Minion: "Life is a tragedy. Without thy benign 
influence it would be unendurable. Knowing this, thou art 
sad; for Comedy cannot be everywhere." 

King: "Come, come! Enough! Thou art a dull 
fellow. Proceed with the lesson." 

Minion: "It is finished, sire. We teach but the text. 
It remains for those who have received it to find its appli- 
cation." 

King: "What now, then. Sorrow?" 

Minion: "Thy task is to reign over the camp until 
the close of this, its last day, is announced by the trumpet 
call of taps. Thy part is that of the leaven in the loaf, to 
bring the camp to sweet and wholesome fulfilment. Mine 
is now to depart, that there be no sorrow in the camp at its 
close. I go to send my brother Joy, to attend thee in my 
stead." 

King: "Arise, Boy Scouts, and big good-bye to 



AFTERNOON FUN 163 

Sorrow. Farewell, good Sorrow. Thou art an honest 
fellow. O that more that meet thee might learn to know 
thy kindly virtues ! that they that hate thee could but 
know that thou art the brother of Joy ! Farewell." 

Unescorted, the tattered and dejected Sorrow leaves the 
camp and rows across the lake. 

The Arrival of Joy. — Later, his costume and make-up 
changed, the Judge appears in the guise of the jolKest Joy 
imaginable. The Cluck-Clucks, with their rooster calls, 
make a great to-do over his coming. The Comedy King, 
meantime, has been "receiving" the various members of the 
troop in costume, and causing them to do stunts for him. 
Now, on the arrival of Joy, the gayety of the camp quickens 
perceptibly. 

The King demands a "review," and Joy, assuming the 
role of master of ceremonies, soon has "Buffalo Bill," 
"Geronimo," "Doctor Cook," and the whole company in 
costume, playing leap-frog, with uproarious effect. 

After that comes the annual Cluck-Cluck contest, in 
which more than half of the troop strive for membership in 
the Cluck-Cluck Clan for the ensuing year. They are 
ranged in a Scout circle, holding hands, and the Comedy 
King, as such also Chief Chanticleer, and the sole Scout 
elected to the Clan for the next year, wearing a pair of 
boxing gloves, proceeds to belabour them at will. Who- 
ever is hit must make a noise that "could be made by a 
rooster," and to fail to do so, or to break the circle by 
letting go a hand, is to be compelled to drop out of the 
circle and forfeit the chance of being one of the Clan. 

The Cluck-Cluck Contest. — The Sheik is a merciless 
Chanticleer and soon drives out the smaller aspirants. 



i64 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

Needless to say, it is uproariously funny. As the Cluck- 
Clucks constitute the unofficial entertainment committee 
of the troop and conduct not only the Coming of the 
Comedy King at the annual encampment, but also all ini- 
tiations of new members throughout the year, there are 
not a few who strive earnestly to qualify. Such clucking, 
cackling, squawking, and crowing, while the Chanticleer 
strikes left and right, unmercifully! Such ducking, too! 
He has fifteen minutes in which to drive aspirants out of 
the circle. And so vigorous is he that when at last the 
Scout Master blows his whistle, there are but six of the 
larger Scouts left in the circle about the perspiring and now 
thoroughly tired Chanticleer. No such luck for you to 
be one of them. The other two Wise Men are there, and 
Nick, the Commodore, Judge, and Rooster, blame him. 
Why, it is the same crowd all over again, except that 
Rooster has replaced Pickles. Poor Pud has a bloody 
nose. 

And now something else dawns upon you: The Cluck- 
Clucks are the same fellows who constitute the Kangaroo 
Court. It makes you wonder if Sheik did not miss a few 
heads purposely. Well, no matter, they are the ones in the 
troop best fitted to play their parts. 

Other stunts follow in whirlwind fashion, the Cluck - 
Clucks keeping things moving with a jump. It is a con- 
tinuous ''scream," to quote little Tilly, who is so excited 
you fear he will be overcome. And then, all too soon, swim- 
ming call is blown. Too soon? In one way, yes; but in 
fact the troop would quit almost anything to go swimming. 

Fun in the Water. — The Comedy King does not disrobe, 
but ascends the lookout tower, from which vantage he 



AFTERNOON FUN 165 

directs the most spectacular diving the troop have ever 
seen. His commands are law, and only the most daring 
have the hardihood to clim.b up to him. Forward somer- 
saults, back flapjacks, butterflies, cannon-balls and other 
spectacular dives are ordered, and as regularly attempted. 
Only the Commodore, however, gets away with them all, 
although the Judge executes some very well, and Sirdar suc- 
ceeds in doing the somersault after several ludicrous failures. 

The last supper is the best meal of the camp, in the sense 
that it is attended with the most jollity. All along, the 
boys have been promising themselves a ''big feed" when 
they get home. Now, with their good times coming to an 
end, they realize that after all, their simple fare has been 
mighty good, considering the cooking facilities and the lim- 
itations imposed by camping conditions. Best of all, it 
has been prepared by the Scouts themselves. And it 
makes you feel good to think of that — how the fellows 
have worked for each other in this intimate way. It is so 
different from anything else. To work for others is noble, 
every fellow knows; but the privilege of cooking your friend 
a good meal — yes, six of them — is something big, some- 
thing to never forget. When you think how others have 
done the same thing for you, you feel different toward them 
than you ever did before. 

The Twilight Hour. — Every evening since the encamp- 
ment began has been an unalloyed delight. From retreat 
to dark invariably has been an endless romp for the playful 
ones; after dark, too, till the camp-fire's irresistible attrac- 
tion put an end to it. There is no place like camp for sky- 
larking, and twihght is the time of times. On this last 
evening, however, even Pud forgets his mischief. The only 



i66 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

other time you can remember seeing him behave himself 
at this time of day was the occasion of the moonlight hike. 
To-night he busies himself listlessly tying knots in a bit of 
rope. 

'' 'S'matter Pud? " asks Nick. ''Aren't you feeling well?" 

''Umph." 

''Homesick?" 

" Get out. One homesick kid in the camp's enough." 

"Well, he's your chum. It's catching, among young 
children." 

Biff ! Pud knows very well that Nick was kinder to poor 
Tilly during that sensitive little Scout's temporary attack 
of homesickness, than even Tilly's big brother. Nick's all 
right, but his back-handed way needs some of the rough 
edges pounded off. And Pud is the boy to do it. 

"All right, Pudley, old top. You'll be a man before me 
yet. But you might give me a chance to grow up with a 
whole set of ribs. I know what's the matter with you- 
Feel that way myself. Come on, you and Til and Jim 
sit with me; they're starting the camp-fire." 

The Last Camp-Fire. — A rousing big camp-fire it is 
going to be, with everybody in the circle about it. 

"Makes a fellow feel glum," says Nick at your elbow, as 
you take your seats on Pud's mattress in the big circle. 

"You said it!" 

Others feel the same way, you may be sure. But the 
Comedy King is on the job and soon puts an end to such 
thoughts. From his throne at the "head" of the circle, 
he directs his minion, Joy, to light the fire. Then, when the 
blazes begin to mount and crackle, the King starts the pass- 
ing of the Pot of Peace, a saucepot containing souvenirs of 



AFTERNOON FUN 167 

the camp, each a bit of white duck stamped by a rubber 
stamp and indeHble ink with the name and the dates of the 
camp. 

Next there are cheers for the absent members, a cheer 
for each as his name is called. 

Now the King starts the merriment, calKng right and left 
for song and story. Every song has a chorus, and every 
fellow joins in. Every song you can think of, seemingly, is 
sung; all the old favourites and the latest good ones. The 
fife, drum, and trumpet corps play all their marches, and 
then Teddy Sahib Gregg recites for the first time a per- 
fectly kilHng rhymed ''Fable of Fussy's Collapsible Cot." 

This seems to be a signal for the recounting of all the fun- 
niest happenings of the camp with startHng embellish- 
ments. "Galley's Rattler" comes to Hfe in song, to the 
tune of "Oh, Didn't He Ramble?" and of course rattles in- 
stead of rambles. Next the Comedy King, standing on his 
throne, his "ermine" cloak gleaming in the firelight, sings 
in a very droll way of how he 

". . . stood on the bridge at midnight. 

When the 'harrse ' (in Tom's stable) was kicking the hour, 

And the moon rose o'er the railing, 

On top of the diving tower." 

Auld Lang Syne. — Not until after ten o'clock does the 
Scout Master look at his watch. Then, with everybody 
standing — and a tear in many another eye beside your own 
you know full well — the whole troop join in singing the 
last song of the encampment, Auld Lang Syne. 

Poor Tilly, victim of his emotions, is again in trouble, as 
you three others can see by the fact that he is in his bed, 



i68 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

with the blanket pulled over his head, when you enter the 
tent. No one says anything to him, and soon the light is 
out. Then comes taps — taps for the last time, blown by 
Rossiter at headquarters. As the last note dies away, 
hark! Some one out on the lake is blowing the echo, oh, 
so softly and sweetly! It is the Sheik; that you know for 
a certainty. No one else in the troop can play a trumpet 
like that. Gee ! what a lump you have in your throat. 

A sob. 

''What's the matter, Tilly?" gently, from Nick. 

''I — I n — never (sob) had such — a (sob) good time 
— in my Hfe!" 

"That's all right, old man. We all feel just the same 
way. Only thing is some of us are so tough we are ashamed 
to show it. I've got a lump in my throat as big as a walnut 
myself. And I wouldn't think much of any fellow who 
hasn't." 

"Same here," from Pud. And you echo the sentiment 
with "Here, too." 

A Camp Uprising. — "That being the case," pursues 
Nick, in an undertone, stirring about in the darkness, 
"something's got to be done. This camp isn't going to cry 
itself to sleep as long as there is a way to prevent it. Get 
on your sneaks, fellows — pajamas and sneaks. Up goes 
the discipHne of the camp, if your Uncle Nick gets shot at 
sunrise." 

"What you going to do, Nick? No noise after taps, 
you know." 

"In extreme emergencies, watch a guy named Finley." 
And Nick slips out of the tent. In a few minutes he re- 
turns, having made the round of all the tents. "Trap's set, 



AFTERNOON FUN 169 

fellows. Now listen to the mocking bird." A pause, and 
then comes a strident "Caw! Cawl Ca-w-w-w!" that 
fairly lifts your hair. It is a "crow call," of the kind used 
by shooters to decoy crows where they are shot as a nuis- 
ance and a menace to crops and the eggs and young of 
song birds. But you never imagined Nick had one. 

"Quack! Qua-a-a-a-a-ck ! Qua-a-a-a-ck ! Qua-a-ck! 
Quack!" from across the campus on a duck call, like a wild 
hen mallard calling to a passing flock. 

Out of the tent you bustle. And the whole camp turns 
out with you — all except Judge, Rooster, the Scout Master, 
and Mr. Tilton. All are in pajamas, and quickly fall in, 
in troop formation, with the exception of one white figure, 
who takes command. Of course you do not know for sure 
that Judge and Rooster are absent, but as they tent in the 
Red Cross and headquarters tents, you surmise they can- 
not come out. Considering the events of the afternoon, 
however, you do not exactly anticipate trouble from head- 
quarters. 

The Pantomime Drill. — Not a word is spoken. The drill- 
master, whose face you cannot see in the dim light, takes a 
position in front of the troop and extends his arms sideways 
and waves them outward. This seems to be a signal, for 
the troop immediately gives way on the left until they are in 
extended order formation. Then, in pantomime, the drill- 
master signals the first movement of the setting-up drill. 
"Quack!" The movement is executed. Another panto- 
mime, another quack, and so on throughout the drill. 

Then, in the sign language, close order is ordered, and the 
troop closes up. Right, Face and Forward are signalled. 
''Quack!" And the troop step off. There seems to be an 



I70 TEE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

excellent understanding between the drill-master, the guides, 
and the squad leaders, for a really good drill is conducted 
without a word being spoken. There is a deal of snicker- 
ing, of course, and all eyes are on the Scout Master's tent 
as constantly as possible. 

Comes a halt and a pause. The drill -master, whom you 
now know to be Sheik, hesitates a bit, as if thinking up some- 
thing else to do. Stepping to the flag-pole, he jerks off the 
upper garment of his pajamas, makes it fast, and runs it 
up, where it streams out in the breeze, the arms flapping 
gayly. Such giggling ! 

Raided! — "Cawl Caw! Caw!'\ The pajama army, in 
precipitate retreat, disappear in the tents in the proverbial 
three jerks, routed by a man on horseback who gallops into 
the camp and around the circle of tents! 

Tremendous excitement and bewilderment prevail, in 
your tent at least. Every fellow is under his blanket. 
Nick, more daring, is under his with his head where his feet 
ought to be. He peeps out of the tent. ''Look, fellows!" 
he hoarsely whispers. And through the open front of the 
tent you all see the mysterious horseman ride up to the 
flag-pole and haul down Nick's ''flag." He rides over to 
the Scout Master's tent and you see some one in pajamas 
come out. There is an exchange of a few words, the pa- 
jamed figure returns to the tent, and the horseman gallops 
away, waving Nick's pajama flag! 

^'Gee whiz! Too much excitement for a small boy like 
me. I'm going out and ask questions," declares Nick. 
Obviously there are others of like mind, for you see two or 
three shadowy figures emerging cautiously from as many 
different tents; only to bob hastily back in again, for the 



AFTERNOON FUN 171 

Scout Master's whistle splits the air, and a menacing, big, 
white-clad figure stands in front of his tent. 

''What the dickens!" ''So say we all of us." "Can it, 
fellows. Wait till morning." And filled with a delicious 
sense of wonder, you somehow fall asleep without once 
turning over. 




The "Tearful Trek" 

CHAPTER XIV 

HOMEWARD BOUND 

WHEN you awake at first call, the next morning, 
Nick is missing. In a few minutes he comes in 
fully dressed, his shoes wet from the dew. 
"Some day, yesterday," he remarks, with a wise nod. 
**What have you been doing, Nick?" 
"Scouting, son. And I've scouted the mysterious horse- 
man to his lair. I tracked the horse. It was Tom's 
buggy horse. And Sheik's pajam is in the Scout Master's 
tent hanging on a hook. I don't want to mention any 

names, but " 

"You mean it was the Scout Master?" 
"Sure. When Rooster stepped out to blow first call a 
bit ago, I was hiding by the side of the tent, and captured 
him. Wouldn't let him blow the call till he told me all 
about it. * Muzzled' him and dragged him away from the 
tent so the Scout Master didn't hear. 

172 



HOMEWARD BOUND 173 

The Mystery Solved. — ''He said that at the first quack 
the Scout Master put on his shorts and sneaks. Then he 
made an overcoat of his blanket,* and when we were all 
watching Sheik so carefully, doing the setting-up drill, and 
he was watching us, the Scout Master slipped out under the 
back of his tent, and keeping the tent between him and us 
for cover, sneaked to the barn. When he galloped in on 
the horse Mr. Tilton naturally ran out, and as we all were 
running we didn't see them meet. Mr. Tilton caught on 
at once and ducked into the Scout Master's tent and it was 
he who blew the whistle and came out and bluffed us back 
into our tents. Scout Master sneaked back the same way 
he went, and then after they had a good laugh Mr. Tilton 
skipped back to his tent. Talk about your kids — the 
Scout Master's worse than any of us, when he gets a good 
chance." 

''Yes, but think of him hatching that stunt up all in a 
jiffy!" 

*' Rooster says he didn't say a word to him about what he 
was going to do. Just said, "Sit tight. Stay in the tent 
no matter what turns up." 

Explanations. — At roll call, the Scout Master returns 
Sheik's "half portion of pajamas" with a perfectly serious 
face, saying it "came into his possession in a rather extra- 
ordinary way," and admonishing the Sheik not to sleep in 
his Scout shirt so long as he has " something more suitable." 

"Ho, ho!" laughs the Sheik. "This is mine, all right; 
that's my name on the collar. But you are mistaken, sir, 
in thinking it is something to sleep in. It's a flag ! " 

"Well, I'm surprised," says the Scout Master, when the 

*See page 150, " The Boy Scout's Hike Book." 



174 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

laugh has subsided. Will you kindly tell me what your 
flag represents? " 

"Yes, sir. Last night it represented rebellion." 

"Rebellion! What do you mean by that?" 

"Rebellion against going to sleep in an atmosphere of sad- 
ness. A lot of the fellows were fighting blue devils last 
night, sir, after taps. Too much Auld Lang Syne. So 
we followed this flag for a bit." 

"Did the results justify the means? " 

"Yes, sir — more than justified them, I think. It seems 
to be a kind of a dangerous flag to fly, considering the way 
it was charged and hauled down. All the Scouts in my tent 
fell asleep from fright." 

"I see. Well, I'm glad you didn't call out your army for 
any less worthy purpose, and that it happened the last 
night in camp. We cannot get along without proper dis- 
cipline, you know. I'm not going to inflict any punish- 
ment. I only wish to remark that your flag would have 
been safer had you posted a guard around the headquarters 
tent." 

That ends it, for the Scout Master knows the result of 
Nick's discoveries is all over the camp. Also he knew, 
without asking the Sheik, what the "uprising" was for; 
otherwise he would have put an end to it before it got 
started. 

"Up and Ranging." — "It is queer," says Nick, when 
you go to wash up. "Last night we all were in the dumps 
because we had to go home. Now look at the fellows! 
Almost as excited as the day we left." 

"Sure," you reply. "It's fun to be going anywhere. 
* There's ever cheer in changing.' Fun to be going home 



HOMEWARD BOUND 175 

even when you've been away but a couple of days. There's 
so much to tell. 'So we'll be up and ranging.' 

*' Yes, and a lot of the fellows have never been away from 
home before; and we've been here eight days. As for 
things to tell — just think of it! I know I'll talk my folks 
into a collapse." 

There is indeed a general air of excitement about the 
camp. All of the Scouts are wearing their long trousers, 
leggings, and Scout shirts. Some have their pack-sacks 
packed before breakfast. And as usual when some import- 
ant move is to be made, the Scout Master is pestered with 
questions; to all of which he replies, "Bring it up at the 
next assembly." 

Breakfast is a bigger meal than usual. There is grub to 
be consumed; some will be left over at that. Then, after 
the washing and packing away of mess-kits, assembly. 

Every one who has a camera is given a last chance to snap 
a picture of the troop, standing at attention, with the tents 
behind them. " If I could only get the tan," says the Scout 
Master, closing his big kodak. 

Packing Up. — ''No fatigue duty till everything is packed 
up, boys," he announces. "First of all, pack up duffle 
bags and pack-sacks. Next, take all ticks to the darn and 
empty out the straw; Milburn, save one tickful for packing 
your chests. Take down all stretchers and carry the poles 
and stakes to that pin-oak at the edge of the grove back of 
the cook-tent, and pile them up neatly. Fold up all fold- 
ing cots. Then roll up your blanket-rolls. Pile all this 
baggage on the east side of the flag-pole in a neat tier. 

"Now then, I want volunteers to dispose of garbage; only 
those who have folding cots and no personal packing-up left 



176 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

to do — I notice some blanket-rolls already strapped. 
Hands)" 

Nick. Sheik Sirdar, and Judge are chosen. ''Fallout." 
And soon a file of "straw elephants" is winding out of the 
camp to the barn. Pretty frolicsome elephants, some of 
them, when they get to jousting. The particular part you 
will longest remember, perhaps, is a pile of ticks with a 
string of Scouts earnestly somersaulting over it onto a couple 
of other ticks on the down-grade side of it. Real somer- 
saults, some of them, too. "Come on, boys. Save some 
of that tumbling to take home. Lots to do." And away 
go the elephants, their "hides" returning a few minutes 
later as the most conspicuous feature of a sack race. Whoop ! 
The fellows are bound to squeeze some fun out of the camp 
while it lasts. 

The personal dufHe is packed in short order. Then comes 
another assembly. 

The" Wrecking" Starts. — "Now we will take down the 
mess-tent and the cook-tent. Those on grub duty — the 
patrol leaders — need not help, but will set aside the left- 
over provisions and those for our lunch. Take the latter 
over in the grove and pile them on the cook- tent tarpaulin. 
When you have that done Milburn will direct the packing 
of the cooking kit in the camp-chests. Leave one of them 
open to receive tools and utensils when we are through with 
them; those who take down the cook-tent will help you 
when they get that done. The Boones and Kit Carsons 
will take down the mess-tent, and knock the tables and 
benches apart. Save the oilcloth. Pile lumber and poles 
with the rest of the poles under the pin-oak. Everybody 
else help at the cook-tent. Fall out." 



HOMEWARD BOUND 177 

"Work, now, to keep you out of mischief," says Nick. 
''When you get through on the tent, give me a hand. It's 
some job packing the chests. The things from the Red 
Cross tent have to go in, too, you know." 

Work ! It is a picnic. Everything goes with a rush, even 
the packing of the chests, with straw and burlap in plenty 
at hand, and half a dozen Scouts around each chest. 

''Hey, hold up there," orders Milburn. "Not so fast, 
you fellows. That shovel is needed to fill the latrine pit. 
Hey, Nick, make them use that old broom on the stove 
before you pack it. You, Jim, shovel the dirt and ashes 
into the fire hole." 

Looking Ahead. — "Oh, yes, we'll ramble!" sings Roos- 
ter. "Hey, Jim, what you going to do to-night? " 

"Oh, I know," chirps Nick. " I know where to look for 
Jimmy all right. He got three letters and two postals 
from. . . ." 

"Aw, shut up, Nick." 

"Well you're not going to deny it, are you? " 

"I'm going to develop pictures, that's what I'm going 
to do, if anybody asks you." 

"Huh! I've got a picture of you doing it. Come on, 
give me that handsaw. Wake up, can't you?" 

"Know what I'm going to do to-night?" asks Nick, 
guilelessly, after a bit. 

"Get sick on ice-cream sodas," you answer. 

The Comforts of Home. — "Not on your life. Pickles 
is the anaconda of this troop. Look at him now, sucking a 
lemon. No, sir! I'm going to spread as much Finley be- 
tween two cool, clean bedsheets as the laws of nature will 
allow. I'll be pushing my poor old hot feet against the 



178 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

deliciously cool foot of the ancestral brass bed when some 
of you chumps are shaking joss-sticks on somebody else's 
veranda and telling how delightfully free from mosquitoes 
this camp was." 

*^0h, very well, Nicholas. You need to go to bed early 
anyhow, the way they yank you out in the morning at your 
house. I'll bet a dollar I hear you pushing the lawn mower 
when I wake up in the morning. 'Come Nich-o-las!' 
He-he!" 

Thump ! '' Scout Master wants you, don't you hear? " 

No getting the better of Nick. You don't hear anything 
of the kind. But you do hear assembly, very shortly. 

"We will strike the tents now, boys," says the Scout 
Master. "First loosen all the tent loops. Then remove 
from their stakes all guy -ropes on the left side, except the 
corner ones. Let one Scout stand at each of these, and one 
at each upright pole. At the preparatory command, 
'Strike,' the two left corner guy-ropes will be slipped off 
the stakes and held in the hands; have the ropes slack 
enough and do it quickly. And at the command 'Tents,' 
lower the tents instantly by flopping them down on their 
right side. All understand that? All right. Fall out." 

Striking the Tents. — In less than five minutes all are 
ready. "Take a last look at the camp, fellows," suggests 
Nick. "Looks forlorn already with the grub tents miss- 
ing, but the whole shooting-match will be gone in a minute. 
Steady now." 

"Strike, Tents!" 

Down they all go, simultaneously. 

"Forlorn? Huh!" observes Pud, " Looks like a cyclone 
struck us. Shall we tie the poles together, Nick?" 



HOMEWARD BOUND 179 

^' Sure. They were tied when we came up, weren't they? '^ 

^'Oh, very well. Rope! Hey, Til-1-a-y! Bring some 
rope." 

''Yank up all the pegs and stakes, fellows," says Nick. 
"No, don't pound them so. Just a couple of raps to loosen 
them a bit, then loop a rope around 'em and pull 'em 
straight out. That's the idea; put them in the bag." 

Soon the poles are all bundled, and the tents and pegs are 
tied in bags, and all piled neatly beside the baggage. Mean- 
time, the quartmaster's packing is completed to the extent 
that one chest is closed and locked and the other is ready 
to receive the few things that must be kept out till the last. 
Once more assembly is blown, this time for fatigue. 

The Final Clean Up. — "Police up the whole grounds, 
now, boys. Get every scrap of litter. Pile all small stuff 
on the spot where we've had the camp-fire and burn it. 
Carry away large sticks to the woodpile. Then come over 
in the grove, and we'll auction off some of our left-overs." 

The Scouts have to go over the grounds a second time 
before the Scout Master is satisfied. Then the auction, 
with the fellows bidding ridiculously high prices for soap, 
candles, matches, anything they can carry, or think they 
can get the quartermaster to put in the remaining open 
camp-chest for them. It's great fun, too. Many of the 
fellows have never before had a chance to bid at an auction. 
Beside, the money goes into the camp fund. Afterward, 
potatoes, onions, and a few other things are sent up to the 
house to be given to Farmer Tom's wife. 

"Now for retreat, boys. Blow assembly, Rossiter. 
Fall in where we are," says the Scout Master. 

He marches the troop to the dismantled camp ground. 



i8o THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK , 

and swings them into the big Scout circle about the flag-pole. 
' ' Troop, Halt. Left, Face. Trumpeters, blow retreat." 

Retreat. — As the last note of the call dies away, the first 
note of "to the colour" is sounded by one trumpet. Im- 
mediately after, the Scout Master lets the halyard slide 
slowly through his fingers, and the Scouts all uncover in the 
military salute to the Stars and Stripes as the flags start 
slowly down the flag-pole. Down at last, the flags are folded 
up, to be packed in the Scout Master's steamer trunk. 

"Now the flag-pole is yours, boys. All right, Wood- 
bury, take charge." 

Stepping forward, the Judge examines the pole with 
elaborate care. Finding it in no manner defaced with sig- 
natures or initals, he steps back. "All right, fellows. The 
first Scout up the pole — I don't mean up to the top! Just 
up high enough so he can't be pulled down — has the right 
to cut as much off the top of it as he wants . for a souvenir. 
No slugging, now. Now then. Ready, Set, Go!" 

Wow! Talk about scrimmages. And such yelling ! As 
fast as a Scout is boosted up by one, he is pulled down by 
another. Suddenly you find yourself jerked out of the me- 
lee by Nick. "Stand still!" He jerks out another of 
his patrol, then another, till there are six of you. No one 
notices you. "Now a wedge, quick, Rooster in front, me 
right behind him. Put him up the pole. I'll boost him — 
rest of you fight the others off. All together. Now ! " 

Strategy Wins. — Zip, crash, and up goes Rooster. 
Team work's the thing. There are a few frantic efforts to 
pull him down before he gets out of reach, but with five 
husky Kentons to repel such attacks the rest is easy. For 
Rooster can cHmb, and Nick boosts mightily. 



HOMEWARD BOUND i8i 

Whoop! Hurrah! Amid the cheers Rooster climbs 
'way up, twenty feet at least. He waves his hand, and 
grins down at the crowd. 

"Si, Si, Sim-on Ken- ton! 
Ki, yi, yip, wahoo! 
Right, tight, fight Hke an Injun! 
Give you odds and beat you, too!" 

The pole belonging now to your patrol, you quickly take 
it down, and Rooster chops off eight feet of the top ; to 
make a Scout staff, to be voted for at a later time, or to pro- 
vide an axe handle for each of the six of you. The remain- 
der of the pole is carried to the wood-pile under the pin-oak. 

The Last Breaking of Bread. — The patrol leaders now 
commence to prepare the lunch; a comparatively simple 
task, considering there is but lemonade and salmon sand- 
wiches to make. Yet it is nearly twelve o'clock when it is 
ready and Rooster blows the last mess-call. 

After a jolly lunch, the lemonade bucket and dippers are 
washed and dried and packed away, the big tarpauHn is 
bundled up, and there is nothing left but to take down the 
latrine tent and fill the pit. One o'clock sees this com- 
pleted and the last camp-chest closed and locked. 

In the meantime, the wagon has arrived. Soon it is piled 
high with kit and duffie, and the load roped securely. It 
leaves at a quarter after one ; to be followed inside of ten 
minutes by the troop, marching to "Oh, Didn't He Ram- 
ble?" 

Taking the same short cut as was made when you came 
to camp, you come out on the road in time to see the wagon 
turn a bend ahead. "Ah, escort to the baggage wagon,' 



i82 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

some one says. But strangely enough, you never catch up 
to it; in fact, after your first stop for rest, you see no more 
of it till you get to the station. The walk does not seem so 
long as it was when you came out, and everybody finishes 
fresh and strong. 

Back to Civilization. — Again the Scouts scatter to post- 
office and drug-stores. And again an unexpected trumpet 
call of assembly brings them running, leaving unfinished 
ice-cream sodas behind. It is ten minutes to train time, 
and all the baggage must not only be checked, but moved to 
another place on the platform. And the baggageman is 
almost rattled. Not so the Scout Master, however. 
"Train's due at 3.15, boys. They told us to unload the 
baggage in the wrong place. We carry packs and blanket- 
rolls with us, so pick out the ones that belong to you, and 
set them in a long row beside the station. Then move the 
rest of the stuff over beside that truck with the trunks on it, 
as fast as we tie the tags on. Quick now ! Fall, out ! " 

With the baggageman writing tags furiously, ''Still 
Bill" Milburn quietly telling him the number of bags, boxes, 
and bundles of poles, taking the tags as fast as they are 
written, tearing off the check and passing the remainder to 
Mr. Tilton, the Judge, and Sirdar to fasten on bag, box, or 
bundle as directed; with the Scouts running back and forth 
carrying the baggage in a continuous stream, while the 
Scout Master keeps an eye on everything, and with a group 
of onlookers taking it all in, the job is finished in plenty of 
time. 

"Gosh!" exclaims the baggageman. "We done it any- 
how. Nothing like system. Here she comes." 

"Fall in!" And as the train comes to a halt, the troop, 



HOMEWARD BOUND 183 

in heavy marching order, stand ready. ^'Right, Face. 
Last coach, Casey. Forward, double time, March. ^' 

It is only a one-minute stop, and the conductor, watch in 
hand, hurries forward to expedite the loading of the bag- 
gage. You stick your head out of the window and see bags 
of dufHe, chests, bundles of poles, trunks, flying into the 
baggage car in true baggage smashing style. 

*'Bo-o-o-a-a-rd!" And you're off. 

Home. — No skylarking on the train; Boy Scouts don't 
do that sort of thing. Not even at the expense of the 
grouchy conductor, who complains that the packs and blank- 
et-rolls should have been checked, and makes the boys 
crowd back in the rear half of the coach; apparently just to 
satisfy his grouch, since the car was practically empty when 
you boarded it and no passengers come in at the next and 
last stop. The fife, drum, and trumpet corps cut loose with 
their liveliest music, when it is e^/ident that you have the 
coach to yourselves. The Cluck-Clucks give the troop 
some fun by pretending to initiate their new member, Roos- 
ter, and demand that he make a speech. ^'Nothing to 
say, gentlemen," says he, ''except that I couldn't help get- 
ting into the Clan, being a sure-enough rooster." 

Some songs, more music by the ''band," and unexpect- 
edly the Scout Master's whistle. "Sling your packs, boys. 
We'll be home in two minutes." 

Off the train at last; the hike to headquarters with friends 
all along the way waving a welcome; a brief talk by the 
Scout Master expressing his satisfaction and pleasure in 
the success of the camp; three cheers; the troop yell; then 
home, on the run, every fellow for himself. After all, 
"there's no place like home." 



CHAPTER XV 

AFTER THOUGHTS 



B 



RUSH the stove with a wire brush, and give it a 
coating of oil or grease before storing it away. 
Protect knives and tinware in the same manner. 



Do not store tents away so long as there is any question 
about their being perfectly dry, even if they are guaranteed 
mildew-proof. 

It is sheer foolishness to post a guard at night around any 
properly situated Boy Scout camp. Not only that, it is a 
hardship no Boy Scout troop should allow themselves to be 
subjected to. A guard is posted about a military camp in 
time of peace for the practice, and to prevent soldiers and 
others from coming and going at will, at the expense of the 
discipline of the camp. The Scout Master who cannot 
maintain discipline in his camp without making his boys 
walk post had better not go to camp. 

Camp is the best place of all to get characteristic photo- 
graphs of the Scouts. Take a camera if you can, and plenty 
of films. Snap pictures when no one is looking; they are 
often the best. Get up close, so the figures in your pic- 
tures will be large. 

184 



AFTER THOUGHTS 



185 



The clothes-line, for drying bathing suits and towels, 
should not be in a conspicuous place; have it among the 
trees, behind the cook-tent. No Scout with any pride in 
the appearance of the camp will hang things to dry on the 
guy-ropes of his tent. 

A small milk-can makes the best water cooler. Good 
to pack things in, going to camp and returning. Wrap bur- 
lap around it, wet the burlap, and place in the shade where 
the breeze will strike it, to cool by evaporation. 










A Wash-Boiler Oven 
Build it in a day bank, with a couple of pieces of iron to protect the boiler, and a double 
layer of stones under it. Line the lid with wood. Build a good hot fire in it and let bum 
for about three hours, to sweat the earth around the boiler. When you want to bake, build 
a hot fire in it and leave for a half hour; then draw the fire and put on the lid and prop it 
shut. When you think the temperature is about right, get in yourabread, fish, or whatever 
you have to bake, in a hurry, and the lid on again. It will require some experimenting, but 
in the end you should do good baking with this oven, which I learned to make from my friend 
C. C. Carroll, a veteran of the Civil War, who "baked between battles." 

Beware of the "cold places" in spring-fed lakes and 
streams; they are fine for fish, but dangerous to bathers. 

Never go into the water immediately after a meal or when 
overheated; to do so is to invite cramp. 

Bather's cramp is not a cramp in a leg, as many boys 
suppose, but abdominal cramp. 



i86 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

On a rainy day, a ''mudified marathon" around the camp 
is good fun. It should be a handicap. 

One of the advantages of pitching the camp in a circle, 
as advised in an earlier chapter, is that on a rainy day, 
any one, in any of the tents, can see into two thirds of the 
other tents; providing, of course, the tent flaps are tied up. 

Signal practice and observation tests are good rainy-day 
activities. So also is '^bobbing" for apples, in a big pail 
in the mess-tent. 

Tomahawk throwing, though interesting, has no useful 
purpose, is hard on Scout axes, and is rather dangerous. A 
hundred times better keep a set of boxing gloves going. 

If you take up boxing, do not expect to make any progress 
by going at it gently. Therefore, make up your mind to 
take your share of thumps. Keep your eyes on your ad- 
versary's eyes and his gloves. And never set yourself 
except to hit. The principle of catching a baseball applies 
to boxing, in that if you are not rigidly set when a blow 
lands on you it will hurt less. At the same time, remember 
that you must not be off your balance, or it will perhaps 
knock you down. Boxing is no sport for a slow-poke; a 
good, clean, manly sport, when not overdone or abused. 

Although guard duty against the possible intrusion of 
outsiders is silly, night watching and scouting among Boy 
Scouts is great fun and fine practice. But know your ground 
beforehand. It is not only highly disconcerting, but it is 
decidedly dangerous, to run full tilt into a ditch or a wire 
fence in the dark. 



AFTER THOUGHTS 187 

On rainy days be sure your cot does not come against the 
wall of the tent. Do not touch the tent roof, for it will 
leak where you touch it. Guy-ropes must be loose when 
it starts to rain or they will break, or pull out the tent 
stakes, or tear out the grommets of the tent, so greatly do 
they contract when wet. 

Provision boxes, camp-chests, barrels of potatoes, and the 
like, should not rest directly on the ground. Raise them on 
a couple of sticks to prevent damage 
from ground dampness or rain. 




Discipline is not something to re- 
strain transgression ; it is not the spirit 
of the schoolmaster. It is the working 
plan of cooperation and equal rights. As.ga-BoardScaUagWaii 
The best thing it does is to teach us to 
discipline ourselves. And the man who has himself well 
disciplined never needs, and seldom does have, anybody else 
to discipline him. 

Unless there is abundant clean, clear water in lake or 
stream at the camp, there should be a regular washing bench, 
with wash-basins and water buckets, and a trench and sink 
to receive the slops. Also, similar provision must be made 
for dishwashing. 

Remember that sunlight and dryness are good disin- 
fectants, and have these washing benches out in the open. 
Do not allow water to be slopped about and the ground 
tramped into mud. 



i88 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

Watch out for poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. 
See ^'The Boy Scout's Hike Book," page 229, for a quick, 
effective, harmless, and simple cure. 

Reveille and. retreat are the only trumpet calls to be 
sounded by all the trumpeters united. 

Ticks, as well as blankets, need to be aired and dried in 
the sun, especially after damp weather. 

If second-grade tents, new or second hand, are used, each 
tent should have a good lo-ounce fly to stretch over it. 
Eight-ounce tents are fairly satisfactory if each is provided 
with a good fly. If the troop can afford them, flies will be 
a good investment to use in connection with even the best 
of tents, making them cooler and quite rain-proof. 

In selecting your white enamel camping dishes, choose a 
deep plate instead of the ordinary flat kind. 

Dining tables should be 30 inches high, and not less than 
2 feet wide; three lo-inch boards are best. Cover with yard- 
wide white oilcloth. 

Make an entire change of clothing, if possible, when going 
to bed. But cover underclothing with your Scout shirt 
or coat, or it will be damp to put on in the morning. 

Don't neglect to cut long grass and weeds in or about the 
camp; they harbour mosquitoes, and mosquitoes carry the 
malaria microbe. 

The services of a professional cook may or may not be 



AFTER THOUGHTS 189 

desirable; personally, I would vote against hiring one. If 
one is employed, this does not mean he will do all the work 
of preparing the meals. Unless the troop is an unusually 
small one, he will need a helper, and the wood cut and water 
carried for him. 

Dig the fire trench in line with the direction the prevailing 
winds blow. Do not dig it nearly as wide as the ''stove," 
as the walls are bound to crumble. In loose, sandy soil, 
wall the trench with stones. This is an excellent plan in 
any event, as the stones retain the heat. A trench con- 
serves heat; also the fire in it is not nearly so hot to work 
by as an open fire on the surface of the ground. 

The folding camp stove illustrated in Chapter VI is 
improved by banking earth against the sides; less apt to 
scorch your shins. 

You can pitch a tent-fly over the trench stove described, 
but not over an open fire. This may be desirable as pro- 
tection against both sun and rain. 



The Water-Carrier's Yoke 



If you are handy with tools, try 
your hand at making a yoke for 
carrying water. Not an easy job, 
but if you make a good yoke the troop will cherish it. 

Soft wood is good enough for cooking on hikes, but for the 
big fire hole at the troop encampment you want hard- 
wood; and you want it spKt. A crosscut saw will prove a 
blessing, if one can be borrowed or hired. One would be 
excellent troop property but for the difiiculty of transporting 



I90 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

it. If you get one, have it short; remove the handles, and 
pack between a couple of thin boards for transportation. 

Do not go in for a special ''feed" with a few other Scouts, 
during the encampment. You will not need the food, and 
you may depend upon it your feast will not make you 
popular with the Scouts who are not in on it. This is a 
species of self-indulgence and selfishness which should be 
taboo in every troop. Beside, the Scout Master, if he is 
onto his job, will not allow anything in the tents that will 
attract flies. 

Red pepper, judiciously applied, will discourage ants 
from operating in your tent. 

There should be a wash day in any camp lasting more 
than eight days. 

Remember the dish towels, to keep them clean and dry. 
Have plenty of them, and don't be afraid of washing them 
too soon. 

The milk-cans must be washed scrupulously clean, dried 
thoroughly, and well aired in the sunshine, or sour milk may 
be expected. If keeping milk in a spring or ice box or a 
camper's cellar, pour off what is needed for a meal into an- 
other vessel and leave the can where it is. To take the can 
out, perhaps in the heat of the sun at mid-day, for a half 
hour, then return it to the cooler, will result in souring the 
milk that remains in it. 

Hang hams and bacon in cheesecloth bags in the coolest 
place available ; screen with leafy branches to keep flies away. 



AFTER THOUGHTS 191 

If making camp on an old camping ground, last used by 
some one less cleanly than Boy Scouts, beware of pieces of 
board with rusty nails in them. Also of old tin cans with 
hornet's nests in them. 

Be sure to take a pair of rubbers to camp, unless you in- 
tend to go barefooted mornings while the dew is on the 
grass. If you can get hold of a pair of light-weight oilskin 
breeches you may find it profitable to have them along, too. 
You may want to hike out through tall grass and bushes 
early some morning, and that is sure to be the time when 
the dew is the worst. 

If you have a rainy camp and there is no floor in your 
tent, procure straw, hay, corn-fodder, broom-corn, palmetto 
leaves, sedge, dead grass, or spruce or cedar boughs, to put 
down in a thick mat for the floor of your tent. There is 
nothing more disagreeable or undesirable than a mirey 
tent floor. A good, thick ground-cloth covering the entire 
floor-space of the tent is an excellent thing, but should not 
be put down on wet ground ; protect it from the mud, both 
top and bottom, as suggested. 

Although it cannot be spliced, in the ordinary sense of 
the term, braided window-sash cord is much more satis- 
factory for camp use than the common cable-laid cotton 
clothes-line so much used. It is somewhat stiff, but is much 
stronger and more durable. 

Don't forget that two camp kettles, one smaller than the 
other, will make a good double boiler. Simply put a few 
small stones in the big one, add some water, then stand 



192 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

the smaller vessel on the stones. Will prevent scorching 
rice, oatmeal, and the like. 

One half teaspoonful of essence of ginger in one or two 
tablespoonfuls of water, is a good remedy for abdominal 
cramp. Taken internally of course! • This also, by the 
way, is one of the quickest and best stimulants. Can be 
given instead of whisky or brandy and stimulates as quickly. 

Tincture of iodine is a '' surface antiseptic," and not 
efficient for use in puncture wounds, as from a nail. It 
coagulates the albumen in the blood, and so prevents it- 
self from penetrating the wound. 

For a fresh wound, use a 5 per cent, solution (i teaspoon- 
ful in 4 ounces of water) of carbolic acid, for from five to ten 
minutes. After that, use a i per cent, (i teaspoonful in i 
pint of water) solution for a wet dressing, which may be 
kept on for twenty-four hours. Be sure to shake the mixture 
well. And never allow a carbolic acid dressing to become 
dry, as it will blister if you do. These dressings, of course, 
are to be applied if there is reason to suspect the wound 
being infected. 

To use bichlorid of mercury (antiseptic), put i tablet in 
a pint of water ( I to i ,000 solution) and apply as a wet dress- 
ing for one hour, but no longer; do not permit to become dry, 
as it will blister. After one hour, make a i to 4,000 solution 
(i tablet in 4 pints of water) and use as described above for 
I per cent, solution of carboKc acid. These poisons should 
not be allowed outside of the Red Cross tent. 

An excellent dry dressing, to be applied after a wet dress- 



AFTER THOUGHTS 193 

ing has been used for twenty-four hours (if germ infection 
is suspected), is aristol powder, which comes in a shaker 
can. Sunhght is a valuable aid to healing, and a dry dress- 
ing should not be bandaged. This powder is good to use 
on sores arising from sunburn, as they frequently do; 
especially on the shoulders, if blisters form and are broken. 
Swimming plays hob with blistered shoulders. 

A very good wet dressing for sprains, bruises, swollen 
feet (from walking), poison ivy, and for strains or sore 
muscles is a solution of lead and opium, commonly sold by 
drug-stores in proper solution for use. For convenience, 
if taking a supply to camp, it is better to get it in the concen- 
trated form, 4 ounces of which makes a quart of solution. 
Lyquor aluminum acetate may be preferred because being 
non-poisonous, but is less efficient in allaying pain. 

Abdominal cramp, toothache, cuts, bruises, strains, etc., 
as prescribed for above, and touched upon (toothache only) 
in Chapter V, may well enough be attended to by the Scout 
himself; but the taking or administering of medicine should 
be directed at the Red Cross tent. For reasons why, see 
Chapter VI. 

If you cannot swim, get a pair of ''water wings" to take 
to camp with you; they will help you more than anything 
else — except confidence. 

No matter how ''tough" you may think it looks, never 
carry a sheath knife. You have no possible need for one; 
an ordinary Scout knife answers all your purposes. More 
than one man has been killed by falling on his knife or 



194 THE BOY'S CAMP BOOK 

otherwise accidentally causing it to pierce its sheath (per- 
haps defective) and wound him. 

Keep kerosene out of the commissary tent. 

Camping provides an excellent test of friendship; the 
rougher the trip, the better the test. Consequently, to 
find a friend in camp is often equivalent to finding one for 
life. This alone makes well worth while the camper's 
necessity of taking the bitter with the sweet. But there 
are plenty of other results equally as good. And in the 
years that follow, the happy bowl of retrospection contains 
no pleasanter brew than the bittersweet blended of the 
trials and the joys of bygone camps. 




THE END 



THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARLEN CITY, NEW YORK 



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